Most times when people pitch you as being perfect for a part... they don't look at you as an actor who can transform. A lot of people are so literal.
It's OK if Tim McGraw goes and does a movie, and it's OK if Justin Timberlake does a movie, but it's not OK for an actor to become a singer. I never understood that.
My advice for upcoming actors is to never give up. If it's in you, keep following your dream no matter what. Perseverence is the key.
I'm just an actor, but if the extra part of it is that I'm helping people or people are being helped by the virtue of what we're doing, then that's just a really nice added extra.
Some friends of mine who are actors feel directing shuts them down and kills all their impulses, but the worst thing for me is if I feel a director hasn't noticed.
A friend bought me a plane ticket to Hawaii, which is where I got discovered and became an actor, so I guess a friend bought me a winning lottery ticket.
I now hate actors that blink too much on screen. When people blink, I turn the movie off. So I don't blink at all.
I hate to tell you this, but there's an entire subset of people out there who think of me as quite a dull actor. And that's the word used, and often - dull.
I don't feel secure at all. I don't know what actor would feel they've made it. I feel like I'm just starting.
Whenever a critic mentions the salary of an actor, I'm thinking, He's not talking about the movie.
You're a smaller fish in the U.S. There's just so many more TV shows, and actors, and actresses. Where as in the U.K. you're in a much smaller market there.
I was on a well-beaten path of actors - what we all call 'the Law and Order route'. I spent two years of auditioning for everything... and then 'The Wire' came up.
It's interesting - an actor's research is different to just historian's research. I'm looking for things that I can actually physically use in the movie.
I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And it was important to do it as well as you possibly can.
I don't any longer make any quality judgement between theater and cinema. They are different experiences for the audience, and they also are for the actors - although they have a lot in common.
There are lots of wonderful actors doing animated films these days, but I prefer it when you can't recognise them - it means they've really become the character.
As an actor, you can do what you want with your role. That's why they hire you; to take the role and make it real.
I only became an actor to get your attention, to challenge the archetype of an African American male; I can't be anything else in this lifetime than an African American man.
If I ask my actors to bare themselves, to reveal themselves as almost naked, I have to bare myself, expose myself as well. That's what creates excitement.
Writers are like actors too. For every story we create, we must get under the skin of the characters and role play with our writing.
It's a tough transition really for theater actors to adjust to television or film, and all of these years later, I still have a tendency to play it too big.
