Even if you have something that you can contribute to society, very often society doesn't view you that way. Because when you are The Other, the first response by the mainstream, if you will, is to ostracize.
When it comes to certain portions of our history, we've just forgotten it all.
Republicans in the South... are trying to find ways, not so much to block black and brown people from voting, but to block black and brown people from getting people they want elected, which is a far more subtle thing to do.
With any villain, you have to see things from their point of view and understand that they think what they're doing will make the world a better place.
I love doing movies but I loved doing theatre just as much.
Actors are very often people who are placed in a position where they think they have to be grateful for the job and have no control over what they play and how they play it. I was not taught that way. I completely disagree with that. I think that you have more control than you think.
I know who Dick Gregory is; I knew what his accomplishments are. I certainly knew him as a comedian and an activist.
One of the beauties of working in Shondaland is that they make an effort to get to know who you are, so they're not giving you something that's going to be so far out of your comfort zone.
'12 Years A Slave' is a film that is beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and told in a compelling manner. However, there are some questions, in my opinion, as to its importance. Paramount among those questions is, What does this scenario illustrate that we didn't know or haven't seen before? And why does such a film garner such popularity?
One, I had never worked with John Woo before and I wanted to see what that was like, and two, Ben Affleck is a friend, so it would be fun to work with him again.
I think the thing is with a movie that has this much science fiction in it; you need characters who are more science fact, if you know what I mean, than they are human.
I think people believe that I give an aura of someone who has both feet on the ground.
I think it talks about that there needs to be some proactive attack against drugs infiltrating our culture.
Yes, I would love to play one of the leads in one these movies and have all those challenges and deal with all those complications, but the business being what it is, there is a slot for me in these kinds of films, so I enjoy them, and I enjoy the people that I work with.
I would love to play the villain, but again, it's sort of what happens in this industry.
When I started off many years ago, I made a determination that there were certain roles I didn't want to play.
There are lots of stories about my culture that I think bring a whole other perspective to who we are and where we have been and how we got here that I think need to be done.
Basically, the actor's job is to pay attention to the script.
With my background, I came out of the theater.
I came into the industry at a time when there weren't a lot of choices to what you could do.
