Joe Morton Quotes
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I think the responsibility that any actor has is to bring some truth to the work.
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I don't know of any actor in any television show that I have ever seen who's given monologue after monologue in a television series.
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I always feel like I'm running an hour and a half late.
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When I started, black people were either victims or they were the perpetrators; they were the boogie men who jumped out of the bushes and did terrible things to you.
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The most frightening thing about playing Dick Gregory is I've never done stand-up before, and I had to learn how to be a stand-up comedian, which was a bit of a challenge.
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There's nothing better than an educated actor - not only educated in his craft but educated in the world.
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I think every villain basically thinks that he or she is doing something to make his world, or the world in general, a better place.
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The more you know about the world, the more resources you have in terms of things that can inform your character or the circumstances that surround your character.
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I was maybe one of two black kids in the drama department. It was, 'Well, you can't play this role because that guy has a white girlfriend or a white cousin or whatever.'
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I don't watch a lot of television, which sounds strange for someone who works in TV.
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Dick Gregory used every syllable, every metaphor, every joke, every march, every incarceration, every hour of his life, to embarrass this country into providing a more perfect, perfect union.
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The argument for '12 Years a Slave' was that - yes, it's a beautiful film. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted. It's a real story, and these stories should be told. The problem is, if they're the only stories being told, then it makes Americans of African descent - it puts them into that victim category. And that was my problem with the movie.
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I make it a habit of never trying to judge what an audience might think, only because all points of view are too close, because we're doing it every day, I think that the actor's point of view is sometimes too close to what the material actually is.
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I think the thing is with a movie that has this much science fiction in it; you need characters who are more science fact, if you know what I mean, than they are human.
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'12 Years A Slave' is a film that is beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and told in a compelling manner. However, there are some questions, in my opinion, as to its importance. Paramount among those questions is, What does this scenario illustrate that we didn't know or haven't seen before? And why does such a film garner such popularity?
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My tendency is to be quiet and to stay focused and in character. Not the entire time, but certainly to stay focused while I'm on set.
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Race prejudice has nothing to do with color. It has to do with being the stranger.
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Everyone does what they believe they need to do in order to survive in this business, 'survive' being the operative word.
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To work for Shonda Rhimes is heaven. It's been amazing.
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Acting-wise, it's always exciting to come back for a third season of any TV show that you're working on.