I feel like the stillness of Ralph Angel - him being formerly incarcerated, being a Black man, being misunderstood in this world, I felt like that brought him to a place where he thought he had to be an observer - externally and internally.

[Ralph Angel] was really about figuring out the humanity aspect of the character and not really paying attention to certain things like him being incarcerated or him being a father and showing that type of love and putting something before you, despite me not having kids in real life. He's vulnerable, ambitious and alive.

I've worked so hard to just be my full self and God has just validated me in so many ways.

If I choose this platform [The Black Arts Movement] and God validates this platform, I feel like we have to use the hyper-reality to get people closer to [actual] reality. Right now is so special because it's the information age and people just want to be aware and there's no better way of doing that than through art.

People respect us, they love us and they're entertained by us, so it's like when you trust somebody on that level, it's a lot easier to speak some real knowledge into their minds.

I really got attracted to the idea of touching so many people and that idea of art transcending entertainment and art and activism being synonymous.

I think that's really the allure of acting for me. I really want to connect with people.