Of all my father's teachings, the most enduring was the one about the true measure of a man. That true measure was how well he provided for his children, and it stuck with me as if it were etched in my brain.

But I always had the ability to say no. That's how I called my own shots.

Acting isn't a game of "pretend." It's an exercise in being real.

I wouldn't change a single thing, because one change alters every moment that follows it.

We suffer pain, we hang tight to hope, we nurture expectations, we are plagued occasionally by fears, we are haunted by defeats and unrealized hopes . . . The hoplessness of which I speak is not limited.

I knew what it was to be uncomfortable in a movie theater watching unfolding on the screen images of myself - not me, but black people - that were uncomfortable.

I think the way I want to think. I live the way I want to live.