Solomon Northup is one of the most remarkable people Ive ever encountered in my life; one of the most amazing stories I have ever been in any kind of contact with. To not tell that story would have been disgraceful, in my opinion.

That global poverty would end. That people would be able to eat. It's the worst shame in the world that people go hungry.

Id never really considered film. If Id thought about film more growing up, I probably would have changed my name. I had no concept of my name in lights.

I like to disappear into a role. I equate the success of it with a feeling of being chemically changed.

I don't ever feel like I've had a moment where I am like, "There it is; perfect and holy in all ways."

I try to just be open to what the next experience is and how it makes me feel, just reading a project, or trying to get involved with a project, or thinking about a project, and what particular emotional flavor that brings. To me, it's never really about planning the next thing, or the career arc. It's about investigating how I feel, from project to project, and finding things that I haven't explored and what that would be like.

The only way to be an actor is to find ways to work as an actor, even if that means doing a one-man show by a river.