Fascinating faces of 2021: The year’s breakout stars, icons and pivotal artists

I subscribe to the narrative that ‘Hurt people hurt people.’ I try my best to look at the ‘Whys’ and not take things personal.

— Actor Michael K. Williams

Actors talking about their process can be so f— tedious. You go, ‘Shut up. You’re just a f— actor.’

— Kate Winslet

I was literally just crying, seeing people share their own experiences of things that were so devastating, and how this song gave them hope — I just didn’t expect anything like that to come out of my album.

— Olivia Rodrigo

I don’t look like I did at 20, so what? That just means there are more interesting guys you can play.

— Clint Eastwood

I was part of this new era of hip-hop along with artists like Kid Sister and the Cool Kids. We were just doing our own thing. I remember, I couldn’t sleep before my debut album came out. I thought I had made a mistake. I was like, ‘I’m too weird for them. People are not going to f-- with this.’ And then [the album] hit and, you know, it happened how it happened.

— Kid Cudi

I had this idea that we were able to capture the most grand, epic, cosmic moments — but also the tiniest, intimate moments on Earth. ... That juxtaposition allows audiences to explore our relationship with the cosmos and our planet.

— Director Chloé Zhao

There’s been a void in our culture for a while. We look at music as an opportunity for upside. But beyond any financial gain or level of scaling, music is sacred stuff, man. And I feel almost called to bring it to people in these hard times. If I don’t, who will?

— Jon Batiste

I’d be quite happy just to show up and have zero hair and makeup, to be honest. ... They’re just tools...I enjoy the transformative process. I think it just really depends on the role at hand. And ... the vision that you have.

— Jared Leto

I’ve always been persistent, and I’ve always fought for the things that I’ve wanted. So as much as this was my passion, it was also my destiny.”

— Dua Lipa

There’s so much credibility and authenticity about shooting where you actually are. There’s nothing that makes me feel happier than when I see people who are from L.A. identify the streets and the locations.

— Issa Rae

I think Linda was certainly a victim of being caught up in a machine. Don’t get me wrong — she put the gas in the car, she put the keys in the ignition, and then she started driving, put her foot on the pedal. But then it’s like a runaway train — I know I just mixed my vehicle metaphors. I will never think that what she did was right. Far from it. But I do have a greater understanding as to the why.

— Sarah Paulson

I need kittens. And a good glass of Pinot Noir.

— Annabelle Gurwitch

You’ve got to make adjustments as you get older. I think it would be silly to be in my 50s and have on Air Force Ones and a football jersey chasing bad guys. So I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to pivot. I’ve got to branch into more drama.’ Even when I do comedy it needs to have dramatic undertones so I won’t even read silly things anymore.

— Chris Rock

You can tell a lot about a person’s personality based on the rom-coms they connect with. For me, it’s the ones that are a little messier.

— Andy Samberg

It’s always been about the desperation of wanting to escape yourself; the time loop is almost superfluous.

— Cristin Milioti

I’m a very positive person. Some say too positive. Most say too positive.

— Addison Rae

Color, like music, you cannot hold back from an emotion. Whereas black and white is linked with writing and the letter and with reason, color is not rational. Color is dangerous. You fall into it. You can’t control it.

— Artist Pipilotti Rist

I’ve never fit in anywhere. ... At the same time, being hard to categorize has not always been a bad thing. I think sometimes there is a pleasure I get in being different. I felt safe being the other in many ways because that’s where I could be my whole, true self.

— Ruth Negga

I call it pain porn. It’s exhausting. We have other stories and other experiences too. One [missing] element is Black joy. At what times were we shown in a non-minstrel light, where it’s actual joy?

— Questlove

Music and friendship can help you transcend even deep sadness and loss. That album was a lifesaver, and I love it. I love it that Rolling Stone said it was a piece of crap.

— David Crosby

Ensemble art is all I’ve ever really gravitated toward, because you’re competing against yourself and you’re competing with things that are in you — ego, apathy and cynicism. Know that you as an individual can beat those three away and then with like-minded people filled with an intentional desire, you can destroy them, you can obliterate them.

— Jason Sudeikis

Having the privilege of being on people’s TVs and being someone people look up to also means I have a responsibility to say something and not to just be pretty.

— Symone

I got to walk down that runway naked, as a trans man, showing off my scars and still having my silhouette.

— Gottmik

Outwardly, he was a buffoon, but underneath it all was a deeply committed activist who was ready to risk his life to challenge injustice. He showed the power of humor to expose the ills of society.

— Sacha Baron Cohen

People didn’t get to turn away from those images. Even before George Floyd, I felt like I heard about another [police murder] every month. I don’t have any new ways of saying, ‘Stop killing us.’

— Flying Lotus

This year had been like ‘The Walking Dead,’ where you really see people’s true natures and who is actually still there for you.

— Thundercat

I really like to make the cameramen laugh. When you’ve done a joke so many times, the cameraman is going to stop laughing. And that hurts my feelings!

— Awkwafina

When there hasn’t been a lot of representation, getting to be the first group of people who get to represent can come with a lot of pressure. You have to think of yourself as an individual while still understanding that it’s a massive responsibility.

— Kumail Nanjiani

I remember at first being really sort of confused by her voice, a little bit like: What is this, and why would you have me study it? To me, it was like, ‘She doesn’t sound like Whitney Houston. She doesn’t sound like Aretha Franklin.’ But I found myself really enamored.

— Andra Day

We’re still navigating a business and a career and an art form that doesn’t really have a lot of Asian Americans in it. That’s changing. But it also leaves us with no real road map. So then every step feels new. Every step feels like frontier. I found pride for that lately. I realized this gamble, even though my parents never wanted me to take it, was an extension of their gamble. In that way, I was like, ‘Oh. I am my father.’

— Steven Yeun

I didn’t know I was being stereotyped I just knew I was working. And I think the fact that I was stereotyped for so long got a lot of people jobs, so we just opened the door.

— Danny Trejo

I’d acted to survive my childhood. I’d acted like I wasn’t scared when I was terrified. In Folsom, I acted to keep my sanity. I had to move; I had to speak out loud; I had to hear my own voice.

— Danny Trejo

My friends are always like, ‘What are you doing?!? Take ... a ... break. ’ But the roles are too good. I wouldn’t be able to deal with it if I didn’t say yes. I wouldn’t cope. I’d rather just go for it and do my best.

— Anya Taylor-Joy

My show is super-hyper-feminine and very pink. That was a conscious decision, knowing how late night is traditionally masculine, how it’s mostly guys named Jimmy or John wearing a suit. ... My goal is world domination.

— Ziwe

Our species — a very young species to begin with — doesn’t seem to have much of a future, sad as it is to say that. But as a satirist, I have to make comedy out of this.

— Author T.C. Boyle

Seven in the morning — ‘Let’s do a sex scene. Great way to break the ice.

— Suzanna Son on her first day shooting “Red Rocket”

‘Respect’ is the song and the hit we all love ... But when you add her life narrative around it ... her relationship with Dr. King and Angela Davis. It’s like, wow, you see all sides of the human and the way she used her art to reflect herself and support others and be an advocate. So now it’s more than just the song. It’s more than just the artist.

— Jennifer Hudson

I was like, ‘Ah, in Korea, this is going to be a hit,’ Did I know it was going to be an international tsunami? No.

— Lee Jung-jae

Two days after I sent the audition tape, they said the director wanted to see me in person in Korea. I was like, ‘Wow, another adventure!’

— Jung Ho-yeon

It’s popular internationally because these characters are within a competitive structure, and everybody recognizes that structure. But, personally, I would love for a time to come where people don’t relate to this oppressive, competitive structure. That’s my personal wish.

— Park Hae-soo

I keep it simple. When Jimmy signed me, I asked him for $30,000 and a trip to L.A. I said I’d make it up to him... and I did more than that.

— Nataneal Cano

I grew up cutting tobacco in Kentucky for $3 an hour, and I knew I didn’t want to do that for a living. I sold insurance door to door. Knew I didn’t want to do that. Most people don’t get to do what they love for a living.... If we ever get to the position where we think it’s owed to us, then we should get out of the business.

— George Clooney

I’m in my mid-40s. What they don’t tell you about this chapter of your life when you’re a kid is that you’ve got some anger. And that we sometimes are unable to express that feeling or have been told that we can’t. After a chapter of being complicated, vulnerable birds that I love so madly, there was something very fun about being able to tap into that part of myself.

— Kathryn Hahn

I always say to my agent, ‘We don’t audition for stuff. We fight for stuff. ... It’s fighting a lot of concepts versus going into the room knowing you are going to be seen for you.

— Eiza González

If there’s something about me that I can’t change — my gender, my face, my height, my body type — it’s better if I get my head straight about it, because then I’ll be bulletproof. ... I look awesome. If I’m the only person that thinks that, I don’t give a f—.

— Justine Bateman

I swear, people keep notifications on me just so they can hate on my performance, my body, my braces. But it all works perfectly with my promo plan. Run the views up!

— Coi Leray

She harbored an immense rage. You can feel it. There are times where she’s really backed into a corner. ... This is a poetic imagining of what it might have felt like for a woman on a precipice and in a certain state of helplessness. We have no idea what happened. But I don’t think she was ever able to come to terms with the rejection. She just couldn’t stomach the lie anymore. ... That would make me angry. I think it would make anyone angry.

— Kristen Stewart

I just told the dude to call me an entertainer. He introduced me as Cedric the Entertainer, and that was it.

— Cedric the Entertainer

I’m always thinking when the movie’s over and I’m a bag of bones going home, that there has to be this other way for me to tell stories without abandoning myself. I still feel like I have a lot to learn in that way.

— Lady Gaga