Most of the characters I'd played were so different from me, so far from me that I had to transform.

Because of the way tech is changing, and becoming cheaper and user-friendly, it's becoming easier to make films cheaply, maintaining quality.

I mean, you know actors, we always want to do something else, something different.

You either get better, or you don't progress.

If you're going to come at me, come at me respectfully, and I will respond respectfully.

It's funny, because in drama school, my greatest strength was my range. So my early career was like that: I played all kinds of different characters.

When you're in a high-stress situation, dynamics between people can change.

The African American community is so under-served in the entertainment industry.

Notes are tricky in an audition, because I find, more often than not, my instinct is right.

'The Wire' really drew on a lot of real-life situations and real-life organizations - it created fiction to make a social statement about reality.

Nothing will ever top 'The Wire.' It was historical. It was black cinema.

Be willing to take a stand for the things you believe in, because no one else will stand there for you.

humans lack good mirrors. It's so hard for anyone to show us how we look, and so hard for us to show anyone how we feel

Maybe home is nothing but two arms holding you tight when you’re at your worst.

The true writer has nothing to say. What counts is the way he says it.

Personal columnists are jackals and no jackal has been known to live on grass once he had learned about meat - no matter who killed the meat for him.

When...has a mugging case ever heard a defense attorney claim, 'Your Honor, the victim was dressed in an Armani suit and wearing a Rolex. Clearly he was begging to be assaulted.'

To the birds you gave songs, the birds gave you songs in return. You gave me only a voice, yet asked for more, thus I sing.

I'm constantly proving myself. I have to always prove myself. There are roles where I feel like, "That should have been a straight offer. Why am I having to call my people and fight for it?"

Revival is simply New Testament Christianity, the saints going back to normal.

He thought her beautiful, believed her impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her, which, ignoring the subject, she corrected in red ink.