If you've ever felt oppressed on any level, there's something from 'The Wire' that you can take and identify with.

You know, my childhood was pretty colorful; I like to use the word turbulent.

I'm good with all my roles, I've never had a bad role.

Addiction is a health issue, not a social issue, not a crime, not a legal issue.

I'm more liable to hurt myself than someone else.

The arts saved my life.

My childhood was pretty colorful; I like to use the word turbulent. But it was a great time to grow up, the '70s and '80s in Brooklyn, East Flatbush. It was culturally diverse: You had Italian culture, American culture, the Caribbean West Indian culture, the Hasidic Jewish culture. Everything was kind of like right there in your face. A lot of violence, you know, especially toward the '80s the neighborhood got really violent, but it made me who I am, it made me strong.