CNN) -- Young Cicely Tyson was raised in Harlem, New York, by two devoutly religious parents. She was not allowed to watch movies or attend the theater as a youngster, so it was an accident that this natural beauty became an acclaimed actress.

Tyson was working as a secretary at the Red Cross when her beautician suggested she model for a hair show. Tyson took a chance, and soon her soulful face graced the pages of magazines like "Vogue," Harper's Bazaar" and "Ebony."

"When I told my mother that I wanted to be an actress, she said, 'you can't live here and do that,' and so I moved out," Tyson said. "You never know what motivates you. I was determined to prove her wrong because she was so sure that I was going to go astray. And that's the juice that kept me going," she said.

Next, the ambitious young Tyson tackled the stage. After starring in Broadway's "The Blacks," Tyson surfaced on the television screen alongside George C. Scott on the series, "East Side, West Side."

In 1972 she turned heads with her portrayal of Rebecca in the academy-nominated love story, "Sounder."

"I remember I was in California when this journalist made a blanket statement about the fact that she did not think that black men and women had the kind of love relationship that Rebecca and Nathan had in "Sounder," Tyson said.

"Well, I asked her if she realized what she was saying. I said, "You're saying we're not human beings.' I walked away that day saying to myself, 'Cicely, you cannot afford the luxury of just being an actress!'"

Tyson is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Jane Pittman in "The Autobiography of Jane Pittman." She received two Emmys for her role as a slave woman who ranges in age from 19 to 110.

Among her other film credits are: "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," "A Man Called Adam" and "Fried Green Tomatoes."

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But Tyson is also an activist and humanitarian who does more than lend her name to causes, she also gives her time. She visits hundreds of colleges each year, speaking to students about educational, race relations and human rights issues.

She is also the co-founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and has traveled through Africa as Chairperson of UNICEF.

But the model-turned-role model isn't even thinking of slowing down.

"I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there's nothing left for you to work towards," she said. "I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life striving to reach the top of it."