For minority actors, developing our own projects has to be the eventual path. We have a lot of stories to tell and a really unique voice. But none of that is going to be heard as long as we're just the hired hands, acting.

I'm always sitting down and talking to people that are doing independent features. It depends on the project and the quotient of the people that are involved. There are a lot of different reasons [to do something], like a particular script that resonates with me, in a particular way. It may not so much even be about the part, but what the script has to say.

You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.

I'm an actor. I love to act. That's my job. I'll leave the politicking to others.

I've been in California for about 15 years now. You're always in your car and insulated. I miss New York so much.

If you're afraid to live your life in a glass bubble, how can you do what we do in this industry?

What struck me more than anything is how the people that are involved in government start out from a place of really wanting to do well, no matter what kind of political spectrum they're on, how they have to hold onto that warm fuzzy place in their heart while they're stuck in the machine.