Diane Tsai

David Oyelowo, who plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Golden Globe-nominated film Selma, was photographed by John Scarisbrick for TIME’s Best of Culture 2014.

Selma centers around the voter rights movement led by King ahead of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“Great storytelling, great writing is always going through the highest moment of tension, the deepest moment of conflict, and that’s what this represented,” Oyelowo says of the film.

Above, go behind the scenes of TIME’s photo shoot with the British actor.

In the new issue of TIME, director Ava DuVernay and actor David Oyelowo discuss their Golden Globe-nominated movie Selma—a look back at the voting-rights marches of 1965 that manages to feel utterly contemporary.

Its relevance comes in large part from the film’s refusal to treat its main character, Martin Luther King Jr., as an icon. In Oyelowo’s hands, the character becomes a frustrated, struggling, but ultimately triumphant leader, one who would not necessarily be out of place on the streets of Ferguson, Mo. Perhaps it helps that Oyelowo, who’s become a favorite for an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, never learned about King in school: The actor playing one of the 20th century’s greatest Americans is, in fact, British.

In this clip from TIME’s interview with DuVernay and Oyelowo, the pair discuss the resonance of Selma, as well as what may be the most important aspect of the film—the speech that was left out.

Tinashe had a life-changing year thanks to “2 On” — her hypnotic ode to intoxication topped rhythm radio for more than a month in 2014 — but some fans still have no idea what she’s talking about.

“The craziest part of being on tour is being overseas and having crazed fans so far away from home,” says the singer, who stopped by TIME’s office just a few days after she made our Top 10 Best Songs of 2014 list. “They don’t speak English, but they still know the lyrics. That’s a trip. A lot of people don’t know what ‘2 on’ means, but that’s the cool thing about music — it’s always open to interpretation. It can be whatever we want it to be.”

Before scoring her club hit about getting a little too buzzed at parties, Tinashe released three acclaimed mixtapes that she recorded in her home studio. She now has access to top recording facilities and A-list producers — her debut album, Aquarius, featured collaborations with Mike WiLL Made-It and Stargate — but she still writes and records on her own, and she’s already planning her next album.

“My new year’s resolutions are just to improve in all aspects, from my live show to my music to my music videos — just push it,” says Tinashe, who hopes to release new music next year. “I don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.”

Krysten Ritter plays the voice of reason in the new Tim Burton film Big Eyes—that is, she plays DeeAnn, an enlightened feminist who sees through the problems in the marriage between Margaret and Walter Keane (Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz). “I represent the bigger feminist movement,” Ritter tells TIME. “A bolder woman who speaks up.” Ritter provides the film’s leavening sharp wit, as well as its sense that something between the Keanes is deeply screwy.

Big Eyes tells the story of how Walter Keane stole, for years, credit for his wife’s paintings, those famous (and famously creepy) big-eyed waifs. Margaret Keane, who’s still alive and still painting, grew isolated from the world and alienated from the art that was making her husband famous. In an interview with TIME, Ritter talks about the degree to which male artists still have it a bit easier than their female counterparts. “It would be greedy for me to say that there aren’t a lot of roles, because I’m working consistently and I’m very fortunate,” she says. “But I see more opportunities for boys than I do for girls.”

The star of Big Eyes and the upcoming Netflix/Marvel series A.K.A. Jessica Jones (who said her 2014 new year’s resolutions had been to book a Burton film and a Netflix show) remains optimistic, though. “That’s hopefully changing,” she says.

Dr. Kent Brantly vividly remembers the day he was told he had Ebola. A missionary doctor with Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia, Brantly had been treating Ebola patients and was familiar with the deadliness of the disease.

And yet, he didn’t panic when a colleague broke the news.

“It was really a very surreal moment. It was a very solemn moment,” Brantly says. “I felt a very strange but overwhelming sense of peace.”

For Dallas nurse Nina Pham, who had cared for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas, learning that she tested positive for Ebola was devastating news.

“Because Mr. Duncan had died three days prior, flashbacks started coming to my head of how his disease progressed and eventually led to his death,” Pham says.

In the video above, Brantly and Pham, along with nurse Amber Vinson, Dr. Rick Sacra and medical aide Nancy Writebol — all of whom have survived Ebola — recount their experiences.

TIME named Ebola Fighters as the 2014 Person of the Year. Read the full story here.

If not for some fortunate circumstances, Thanksgiving could have been a holiday of fasting — rather than feasting — every fourth Thursday of November. And though it’s a well-cherished occasion today, it was met with some disapproval in past centuries.

In the video above, we present you with a few facts about the history of Thanksgiving that just might give you a few more things to be thankful for this season.

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, former Microsoft executive and spouse of the Uber-nerd has turned her attention to the issue of women and girls. Her purview is mostly the world’s poorest, but she had some things to say about how even educated and affluent women hold themselves back.

“They doubt themselves,” Melinda told TIME during this week’s 10 Questions interview. “Women don’t tend to see themselves as ready for the next role, as they ought to.” Gates, who recently raised $2.3 billion (that’s with a B) at the London Family Planning Summit, said that at first she didn’t want to head up the drive to make contraceptive choices available to women in developing countries. “I wasn’t sure I was the right person,” she said. “I kept looking for somebody else to lead the effort.”

But she noted that good managers can provide a simple workaround for this problem, simply by making sure to give the women a little nudge to throw their hats in the ring. “I think it’s up to the managers—men or women— to reach down and pull those women up and say, “No, you are ready for that promotion,” or, “You’re at least as qualified as the men.”

In the interview Gates also spoke about what she’s doing to make sure her kids handle their great wealth (including how they allocate their pocket money) and how she refocused her life after turning 50. Subscribers can read the interview here.

Geniuses, no matter how smart or intimidating, still have some things in common with the rest of us.

Benedict Cumberbatch says of portraying them, “It’s also, actually, the great gift I suppose — is to realize that they’re bound by the human condition. They’re blood and flesh like us. They live in the same worlds as us.”

Cumberbatch is no stranger to portraying individuals of remarkable intelligence, having taken on roles ranging from Star Trek‘s super-human Khan to Alan Turing in the upcoming film The Imitation Game.

“I suppose being remarkably stupid in comparison to any of these people’s abilities is difficult sometimes, but that only really manifests when you’re actually asked to do something that they can do,” says Cumberbatch.

For example? Playing the violin as Sherlock Holmes.

Above, watch Cumberbatch reflect on his past roles and what he relishes about the experiences.