All the things we have to remember, and I've mentioned this before, is that we're all artists.
And I'm very surprised that all this stuff actually worked out to where I could have a career in film, gain the benefit of my education, and be thankful that I was able to break into my craft as an actor.
And right now I may just be living inside the heart of the body, and I one day hope to move to the brain.
And when I stopped doing that and started thinking about what feels natural and what feels right to me and started pleasing myself, then it became good.
And, so yeah, I'll always want to work in independent films because you're not forced into a category or a formula.
Artistic freedom means a great deal.
As a child our dreams got scattered all about and all our future prospects got scattered to so many places, and we spend our lives trying to find the little pieces that make up our lives and make up the dreams that we had as a child that got blown away in the windstorm.
As a painter who's used acrylics, you can easily learn how to use oils, but you have to know the rules of using oils.
Don't just view me as an actor.
Every artist has to grow, and has to challenge themselves with a new form of expression.
Every little job becomes a dream, and you don't recall it anymore, and maybe you might have a deja vu moment, but it's like something you dreamed earlier.
Every one of us is an artist, and as an artist, you really can stroll into any venue that you want, as long as you take your time to learn the etiquette of that venue.
Every role you play is literally - and I've said this before - every single role that you play, the only way you can connect to that character is because that was a piece of you that was scattered around that yard, almost like we got caught up in some whirlwind.
Everyone wants to work with Spielberg.
I ad lib. I've gotta bring my own into it.
I am an engineer, but what I find important and necessary is that you just learn things as you go along.
I can't tell you if one day I'll be standing up there with an Oscar or directing, but I am going to be the best human being I possibly can.
I don't have any love for this business or the game or for acting. This is my day job.
I feel like the alchemist that's supposed to be a shepherd with sheep and now I'm in this caravan learning to be an alchemist.
I had a really rabid frustration that I could fully exist and not be a target from either side, whether it's from the black side or the white side.
I just wanted to be a scientist.
I like to watch mankind in its futile attempt to understand the unknown, when they don't even understand that which they know.
I make documentaries. Even though they're staged documentaries, but that's what I like to shoot, is a documentary.
I wanted to be a scientist, and people like Craig Brewer saw me as something more.
I'm trying to make enough money where I can be financially independent and be able to go and just pursue that thing that everybody really needs, just pursue my family and the cause of my family.
I've always had a natural fear of the police, or abuse of their power.
I've got a little more to learn. I've got a lot more to learn. It took me 19 years before I starred in a movie.
In every person we meet there's this little piece of God in them and that's who you talk to. And that's the only person that you allow to talk to you. When something else is speaking, you walk away from that. If it's not good, if it's not love, you walk away from it.
Like I said, I want to touch all fields. But I'm just learning this sinew of musical expression a little bit more first.
My future's about trying to be a better man.
My life's experiences, I've always had, my uncle used to call it antenna. I know what's going to happen oftentimes before it happened when it's involving me.
No, most of the decisions that I make with regard to taking roles, I just look for something that's challenging, something that I think I can accomplish, you know.
So I show appreciation for the little gifts that have been handed to me.
So I'm appreciative that people are liking what I'm doing, but whether they like it or not, it doesn't matter, because I won't change what I'm doing.
Sometimes the only way to make palatable that which is appalling and apprehensive is to season it with some humor.
The difference with Cleveland is that the racial tension was not a casual taste of it. It was outlandish.
The only thing that really matters in the initial part of my career, the worst mistake I've ever made was try to do things to please the audience thinking how the audience is going to respond if I do this.
The purpose of my life is being a father to my kids and being a husband to my wife.
The reason that I'm an actor, or an artist, is ultimately because I'm trying to paint a self-portrait, and the most complete and beautiful self-portrait that you can.
We both can be the most beautiful and benevolent creatures on the planet, but then there's another side that can be as harsh and as ugly as the darkest thing you could imagine seeing.
We call the Creator father, because we rely upon Him to protect us, guide us, feed us, keep us warm, to discipline us and all those things. I try to take my cue from the Creator, with regard to my children.
When you hear buzz around the beehive, you know they're making honey in there.
You just drop a character like this that and the other and it's done.
You know, one day I'll go and get my masters in physics and go and do all that stuff, but right now, I got deviated into this artistic world and I'm so appreciative that I have the opportunity.
You start off thinking that your life might go in one particular direction, but then I knew where my heart was at, and I always wanted to act.
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