Top 10 Quotes by Alexandra Shipp

Aaliyah revolutionized what it was to be a young black woman in America. She made it OK to be a nerd and to be a tomboy. She made it OK to wear leather and chains. She was the first black girl with an ombre. She was so far ahead of everything and everyone. It was just who she was. She was an innovator, but she didn't even realize it.

By the time I was 10, I was doing plays for Phoenix theater. My first lead role was as the Stinky Cheese Man. I got a taste of the limelight, and I just couldn't stop. It was a way for me to be the artistic, geeky kid that I was, and not get beat up.

With music, you're really showing someone a piece of your soul. You're saying, 'This is mine. I wrote this, I made this, I'm performing this. This is how I'm presenting it to you.' There's something really scary about that, but there's also something next-worldly about it, too.

I have a very long and beautiful love affair with Elvis Presley. I own every record he ever made, so I have about 150, almost 200 records of his. So much that I haven't even listened to all of them. I see an Elvis record that I don't have, and I'll buy it and put it in my collection.

'Try Again' - every time I hear that song, it just brings a smile to your face. When you're feeling like crap, and you hear, 'Dust yourself off and try again,' it kind of just puts you in a different mindset, 100 percent.

I moved to Los Angeles when I was 17. I had just booked 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakwell.' I thought, 'Well, I'm just going to move to L.A. and become famous. 'Squeakwell' is going to launch me to that point.' Well, I didn't end up working for, like, three years afterward. That's kind of the name of the game.