I imagine it was much different in the 1970s. That was the Renaissance for black actors, albeit in blaxploitation movies. There was a much greater preponderance of work then than there is now.
The thing about romance and romantic movies is that they can be somewhat melodramatic. For a lot of actors, there's a certain cringe factor that's involved with that.
Right now, if you're interested in being a dramatic actor, they're not making that many just regular dramas. Movies have to have some other thing going on.
So, one way or another, I found myself in a few movies. I take it seriously when I'm on the set, but I don't take myself seriously as an actor.
I watched so many comic book movies where the actors weren't as built as the characters in the book. It made me mad because they didn't look right.
In film, movies' schedules are based on three things: actors' availabilities, when are sets being built, when you can rent the place you're going to film in.
It's not like I sit around watching my movies again and again, but I've never quite believed actors when they say they don't watch themselves.
Some actors get by with behaving, not acting. You've got to sell the effect. I act more in the 'Nightmare' movies because it's not like me. I'm acting, not reacting.
Every actor has his own identity. I don't aspire to be Bond. My quest is to do something new, something different.
Hollywood is a very strong machine that needs, and in... especially with female actors, fresh flesh. It's that cruel. But that's the way it is.
I always say this - As an actor, we're lucky to get a job. Then we're lucky that anybody gives a damn to watch the thing that we're in.
As an actor, you want a director who makes you feel comfortable in a place that you can really create and try a lot of different things.
You ask any actor - they'll tell you they'd rather shoot on location because you don't have to invent the energy, the energy is there.
I think all actors - they'll hate me for saying this - but we are babies. We like to be loved, and we'll do anything if we're loved.
I don't want to be an actor, but why not take these opportunities when they come to you? I'm not killing myself auditioning, chasing that dream.
So I built my entire career in the United States and that's why it feels like I'm an American actor.
As an actor, it's my job to make everything interesting and exciting and new. If I'm not doing my job well, then I'm stealing.
I never really thought of myself as being an action hero or a leading man or any of that. I'm a character actor.
Look, every actor has a different way of preparing or creating a character and yeah, we all are from different backgrounds.
You have to get it in your brain that you don't belong to yourself as an actor, but that you belong to the director who creates the character.
A lot of directors in television have come up through the technical ranks. They have all the technical skills in the world. They're not all that familiar with actors.
