Leslie Odom, Jr. Quotes
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I don't have any control over the offers that are going to come to me or not come to me. But I can't go backward, and so that's what's tricky.
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I grew up in Philadelphia in a time where we took it for granted that we were supposed to be young and gifted and black. It was a culture of excellence - and all my friends were more talented than I was.
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I've realized along the way that a lot of things that I do as a performer are about waiting for somebody to write something for me or develop something for me, but music, music was the thing that I don't have to wait for anybody's permission to do.
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It's about polarization. You're trying to stir up something in your audience.
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That was the bat signal for me - 'Rent' changed my life. It took me years before I got beyond that show.
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You must be an artist and a citizen of the world. You must speak to this stuff that's happening. You must do what you can to shine a light on it, help people through it.
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I'm addicted to growth.
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I have a great foundation, a great training foundation. But it took me a long time to let the training go.
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I've been in a long-term relationship, and I'll tell you, it's never boring! People trying to merge their lives together always run into challenges.
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Until you make a name for yourself, they're like, 'Be a little more Denzel,' 'Be a little more Wesley Snipes.'
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I'm the nap champion.
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Oh, Alexander Hamilton fell short of his best self every now and again, and he still managed to do these wonderful things - well, so do I. So what am I capable of?
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My dad was always in sales. My mom had a heart for the ages. Worked in recreation, doing rehabilitation in nursing homes. Very nice, practical folks who were very proud of me but had no inclination toward the stage in any way.
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I remember Ella Fitzgerald sort of coming into my life like a bolt of lightning - like, what is that? It was one of the purest examples of God in art that I'd ever seen.
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I know what it's like to be ignored; when I got to L.A., I longed for somebody who looked like me to show me the ropes.
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When I step on the stage and sing 'Wait for It,' I'm singing that for everybody. I don't mean I'm singing it for them; I mean, you are their voice.
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I have to remind myself that it may never be this good again.
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I remember when I was in 'Rent,' Daphne Rubin-Vega threw a party. At the time, she had a loft in TriBeCa, and the elevator opened right into her apartment. I was like, 'I've never seen anything like that.' I didn't know it was possible.
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I don't want to leave anything offstage.
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I've been fortunate in my life. It hasn't been easy, but there has been a focus on the positive, and it has reverberated. Eventually, the outlook mirrors itself back to you in the friends you have, in the partner that you choose.
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I think for a lot of us, you know, what 'Hamilton' gave us the opportunity to, what it gave me the opportunity to do, was to go, 'Here's what I've learned in 35 years.'
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I haven't gotten hundreds of jobs that I've auditioned for.
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You gotta prove yourself. I'm not above that. I will never be above that. Bring it!
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You can't judge the people that you play anyway; you leave that for somebody else to do.