The more you work and get known for something, sometimes things begin to narrow a bit, and your opportunities get more... specific.
Your life, your circumstances change, and you have to continue to grow as a person, and once you have means and opportunity, you have to make different choices to protect what you have.
'Mahershala' is my nickname.
At that moment in time when we feel like the other, we were not the person embraced, not one of the cool kids, not in the club - when you're that person, it makes you feel smaller, and when they persecute you as a result, that's a difficult position to be in.
Who is that person that comes around and says, 'You are OK, you are worthy, you are special?' That makes all the difference in the world for many of us. Those are the people we appreciate the most.
In my humble opinion, the ages 22 to about 27 are the most critical years of your adult life. It's your time to gestate in the cocoon of becoming.
I do believe that there are creative chakras or different sorts of energy centers.
I found myself sort of becoming a character actor, though I don't know if that would be my natural makeup.
I haven't gotten to do the leading man thing, so I would love to do that!
To get to play someone who was in some capacity the King of Harlem, that meant something to me. Deep within my bones. I was inspired by the energy that I knew to be a real thing.
What you see in 'Daredevil' and 'Jessica Jones' isn't the Hell's Kitchen of today; it's a version of what it was like.
It's about very talented writers, directors, producers, and actors being in a position for their projects to be supported, but there's just not enough black projects being made.
I owe a lot to my time on 'House of Cards' because, up until I booked that show, I had been working consistently for 12 years, but I wasn't working on anything that mattered in the way 'House of Cards' did to its audience, to casting directors, to directors and producers. The show hit this sweet spot.
You want entertainment in general, every aspect of it, to be more of a reflection of the diverse world that we live in.
Cultures and races are mixing in a very organic way in the world, and that should be reflected in film and television.
I wanted to take on my full name, which was sort of a crazy thing to do considering that we're in Hollywood.
I think if you have any desire to be a leading man or to really carry some of these stories, there's this relationship that has to be cultivated with an audience. People have to be able to say your name.
Marvel has such a huge slice of the pie.
At a certain point in my career, I was probably having a difficult time 'holding space.' So you get a character that has to be commanding in order for him to resonate and make sense.
The call for diversity is about recognizing that in order to be in the conversation come awards season, it goes back to the content that is being produced.
