All Quotes

"I knew that when I started directing for film, I wanted to make sure that the narratives resonated for me,"

"Having a slush fund gives you the power to say ‘No!’ to that unspeakably CRAPPY job that will only serve to successfully drain your soul and retard your big career goals. It’ll sting, some months it’ll be nigh impossible, but DO IT!"

"I approach the work attempting to find out who this human being is. Because of Delta Slim’s history, because of his virtuosity, and because he has lived — because I have lived the years that I have lived, I have a history. All of those things connect to the larger story that Ryan wants to tell in terms of where and how the blues music is situated inside of American culture"

"I’m inspired. I’m inspired because I look at a film like that, and I say, that cannot have been easy for her to get that film made. And so the challenges that I face getting my film made, it inspires me to keep moving, to keep moving forward, to keep striving. Because … there are so many stories that do not get told. And I was speaking with some film cinema students and I was saying that despite the fact that the landscape of cinema — and let’s for a second just talk about American cinema, the landscape of American cinema, I’m not going to say it’s narrow, but this is what I will say — there are so many other stories that could be added that could be contributing and be part of the landscape of American cinema. And one has to — and this is part of my appreciation for ‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,’ and it sounds very clichéd — but one has to have believe. One cannot lose sight of one’s own belief, more so in the face of the rejection that invariably one will face"

"I had to have faith in the strength of the work"

"and the fact that even though it's not a meritocracy, that the work would shift my position as a creative worker to a place that it would mean something beyond itself"

"but I'm still believing in myself, man. I am. I'm not being defined by my circumstances."

"So here is this little Black kid who all of a sudden is in school with these white kids, and the parents of those kids are looking at this little Black kid"

"And the manner in which I communicated that to the producer—and he agreed, by the way—was not as diplomatic as it could have been. And when one, as I was in this particular case, is being paid a lot of money to be in a project, to come to the producer and express dissatisfaction with the material, that can be seen as an affront"

"The Long, Occasionally Dark, and Ultimately Triumphant Career of Delroy Lindo,20 April 2021"

"My father [Yahya Abdul-Mateen] prayed for his parents every day and took them along the journey with them"

"I can only hope to do the same, and one way I can do that is by holding on to the second [in my name], because that means you have to acknowledge the first too: my father"

"My name is not the name you’d pick out of a hat – Yahya Abdul-Mateen the second is no John Wayne, it’s not traditionally the guy at the top of the billing. And that’s why it’s so inspiring to people. I get messages all the time saying, ‘Thank you brother for representing for us Muslims. I was thinking about changing my name, but now that I see you, I’ll never change it"

"For a lot of aspiring actors and artists around the world, America is the destination, the comparison"

"So to have my name at the top of the billing on my own for Candyman, right up there on Aquaman, and next to Keanu Reeves in a big production like The Matrix is huge. To be validated, to hold my own, and to go on talk shows where they say my entire name, that’s inspiring"

"I remembered that acting thing I had a really fun time with when I took the class and I said ‘Okay, I’m going to go try that for a little bit"

"I’m so thankful every day"

"I got off to a really fast start ... I kind of just skyrocketed out of graduate school"

"It's 1:00 a.m., and I'm trying to get her to be quiet, but she's still screaming, so I just stopped and let her walk"

"I knew there was no rationalizing with this person. Two minutes later, I walked up to the studio and sat down at a computer. I saw her across the room, but she wouldn’t make eye contact"

"I went back to my computer to work, and I remember being so angry that I cried"

"It was frustrating. I deserved to be there. Period. That was my reminder that even if I did everything right -- played the game by the book -- some things in life would be unavoidable. Because I was Black. I was 18 years old. I did the only thing I knew to do. I cried, and I swallowed that s**t"

"With my therapist, I wanted to be able to talk about being Black. I wanted to be able to use my vernacular," he said. "I didn't want to have to explain what it felt like to have someone follow me around the store. I just wanted to talk about the fact that it happened and have that person understand"

"Black men—Black people in general—don’t have a reason to trust America. History will tell you that, at the end of the day, we’re going to be the first ones to be manipulated and systematically taken advantage of"

"There’s a stigma around mental health in the Black community, particularly with men, that means we don’t talk about how we’re feeling, and it was strange to be around Black people who openly discussed seeing a therapist"

"I felt like a stir-fry and I wanted to be a stew so back to school it was."

"When you get on set – steal with your eyes and shut your mouth! Sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the oil, it gets replaced. Pick your battles."

"There was this collective curiosity that I didn’t even know was there. Historic disenfranchisement kept those resources out of reach to the point that many believed that our rejection of therapy was primarily cultural. I’m glad to see this narrative changing. We’ve got a lot of internal healing to do in this world, and therapy is going to be a big part of that. With the right relationship, therapy can be a safe space where we can be heard and seen in a world that too often chooses not to hear or see us"

"We need people like myself with a platform to continue to speak out and to be standing and doing the right thing. And so sometimes I question whether or not I’m doing the right thing by being away from America right now. I donate my money, my time. I use my platform to amplify others’ voices, and sometimes that feels like it isn’t enough. I want to be on the ground. The people I love, my family, my close friends, the Black women in my life—they tell me to be kind to myself, to stay informed, and to stay ready. So that’s what I try to do for now"

"Black Family, don’t feel guilty for laughing and feeling joy today. We need that too"

"Everything should be about getting to the truth. But sometimes you got to know which movie or genre you’re in,"

"That world is enormous. And I joined that world way into that run; a train that was already moving. Normally, I come in way early on and I get to figure it out…I was freaking out. It was a scene with [Samuel L.] Jackson, Tom [Holland]…there were a number of actors in that scene. And I remember not being able to remember my lines. I was the wooden board. And they were like, ‘Whoa"

"I didn’t want to show up like, ‘I have a confession,’ so I taught myself"

"[Watchmen] was also a story about a god who came down to earth to reciprocate to a Black woman all the love that she deserved"

"He'd offer her sacrifice and support, passion [and] protection. And he did all that in the body of a Black man. I'm so proud that I was able to walk into those shoes"

"So I dedicate this award to all the Black women in my life"

"The people who believed in me first — I call you my early investors. I love you. I appreciate you. And this one is for you. Thank you"

"It's important to listen to Black women because they got the answers"

"There was such a wide variety of subject matter that it kept me on the hook. That was something that I could call my friends and family and talk about. I feel like television and film were very important over quarantine; for me, that became a way to connect to other people. And instead of talking about sports or talking about whatever event was going on, or where we were going—the variety of things that can happen in a day—my conversations, a lot of the time, switched to television"

"I saw a lot of people validate the history of trauma in this country, and the ways in which a traumatic event can happen to someone in one generation, and two generations later you see their offspring or their grandchildren still dealing with that. To me, that idea is very important to legitimize because we live in a society, in America specifically, that is so much in a rush to move past all the dark parts of its history. There’s so much of a rush to just put that behind us, that it often causes us to ignore, to not deal with it. And it causes us to not be able to realize the way that we still perpetuate it and create an environment for that trauma to continue to exist and persist"

"There’s a lot of work out there, which makes for a wide variety of creativity and conversation. And most of all, employment, for a lot of really, really good actors"

"I woke up two months ago and said “Whoa, whoa whoa! I’m an actor, how"

"A few months ago I was still in school and no one knew who I was and now I’m on a show and my publicist is calling me! It’s so exciting. I’m just taking things day by day."

"I’m the youngest of six kids and I grew up with a lot of noise, a lot of music and a lot of laughter"

"My father was Muslim and my mom is Christian, and we moved from New Orleans to Oakland, so I always had this appreciation for different cultures. Between those dichotomies and with eight people living in the house together, there was always drama. But it was enjoyable drama"

"I think it would be irresponsible of me to not be aware of the climate [in Hollywood] when it comes to the conversation about diversity"

"But I like to consider myself an actor, and one of the assets that I have is that I’m black. And that I’m 6’3″! I just want to do work that gets people excited and makes them feel things, no matter their economic or racial background"

"The reality is I spend every moment working to achieve my goals. Every day that I'm not on set, I'm creating opportunities to be on set."

"If you don't ask, you don't get!"

"I believe it is important for everyone to be able to physically fend for themselves, not just women exclusively."