Being different gives the world color.
I empty myself out and fill myself with the character. I would play a devil worshipper, and I would fill myself up with whatever devil worshippers believe. Then, as myself, I empty that out and become Nelsan.
I can play a doctor, and I can play a thug.
Being different makes you beautiful.
Boot camp was the first time I got a heavy dose of discipline. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
My mom's side, they're southern Baptist Christian.
When I moved to Chicago, I was coming from a school that didn't have any arts in Alabama. I essentially came from a town where the arts didn't exist and the desire for education didn't exist and wasn't valued.
I went from unknown to having no anonymity.
I rejected being a lot of things that I grew up in, and yet I didn't. I got all my tactics from where I grew up... I can talk about all the people in those environments more than I can talk about the teachers at Juilliard or anyone else.
Anna Paquin is marvelous, and she brings so much experience to the table.
Acting is the only thing that makes me happy.
I had no intention of being an actor.
At some point in my life, I wanted to be in a vampire movie.
When you act with phenomenal actors, it makes your job much easier because all you have to do is react.
Whenever you have a character in which one of his defining qualities is his sexuality, it's always challenging, because you don't want to bring in someone who's going to play that in a phony way.
The ultimate part that I want to play in my life is Jimi Hendrix, so I guess I'm drawn to music even though I can't sing or dance very well.
There are homophobic people in my family. They're deeply religious.
When you're in a position that you can comfortably give, you need to pay it forward.
My idea of horses is from when I grew up on a farm. They were big, and they were dumb.
With 'True Blood,' you don't know what to expect. You don't know how wild it's gonna get.
