It's the people who don't recognize the racism within themselves that can be the most damaging because they don't see it.
When I got into Stanford in high school, I had some friends from school who told me that I just got in because I was black and whatnot.
I went to Target once and picked up three seasons of '24' - what I call the Jack Bauer power hour - and watched 72 episodes in ten days.
I lived in St. Louis, Missouri, and now my kids are growing up in Los Angeles, so that's culturally very different.
I always thought that I would just be working in obscurity in perpetuity.
I catch myself every once in a while doing that weird thing that I see famous people do, where they have sunglasses and hats on and grow out beards thinking that they're fooling people. Dude, you're not fooling anyone: you look just like you.
I never assume people are going to recognize me.
I've been able to pay the bills. I've been able to pay off my student loans. I was a homeowner before anything happened in the larger public eye.
I think what Hollywood is learning at large is that there is profitability in stories that are culturally specific and that you can only address the universal through the specific.
Running gives me the confidence to be at my peak throughout the rest of my day.
In the gym, people's enthusiasm tends to get the best of them. They realize this is their opportunity to say hello or that they love my work... It doesn't matter how profusely you're sweating.
I've had people come stand in front of the treadmill and wait for me to acknowledge their presence so they can speak.
The first time I went on a serious run was when I was 21 years old at Stanford University. From 21 to 30, I continued the tradition and ran 10 miles every year on my birthday.
My family did a lot of road trips across these continental United States when I was a kid. Twenty or so of us would caravan in four or five vehicles and hit every corner of the connected 48.
The first trip I can remember would have to be to Marianna, Arkansas. My mother's parents are from there, and we'd go every year to visit the church where they were buried. We'd attend church service that day, put flowers around their tombstones, and visit with family and friends that still lived there.
Don't become too attached to your own myopia. Just because you've found a way to do things doesn't mean it's the way to do things. There are so many different ways in which to navigate this so-called life. Be open to experiencing more than one.
I'm obsessed with how people talk! Accents, dialects... So whenever I go someplace where an accent is extremely distinct - Minneapolis, New Orleans, Jamaica, Vancouver - I always find myself trying to pick up the subtleties of their patterns.
I'm a little kid from St. Louis, Missouri, on the inside.
At the highest level of your craft, you don't have to play games or make people feel small; you can just embrace.
As a father of two black sons now, you ask yourself, 'What do I have to do to assure the safety of these boys?' It can be daunting.
