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We are born with freedom and hope, but often that's dashed because of our color. But in school, I'd already been taught that no one could tell me that you can't do something because you're black.
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George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with those 'Oceans' films they do, they get to work together, make a whole lot of money, and make a major film statement. Imagine if once a year, myself, Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, we did some relevant film together to make a statement.
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I grew up with all my cousins. The men worked, and the older women raised us - my mother, my aunt, my grandmother. My great-grandmother was the matriarch, and sometimes there were 30 of us.
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I had an Oscar, an Emmy, and yet I had this big hole in my soul.
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There's really nothing like a live audience right there. When you're in a bad show, you can hear the creaks in the chairs.
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The worst resentment that anybody can have is one you feel justified to keep.
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I was invited to play with the New York Knicks. I was never drafted, but I was invited to the rookie camp.
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One family, one nation, indivisible. That mentality is essential for our salvation.
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You have a bout with death, things that touch your mortality, when that happens, all that bling-bling gets thrown away because all you've got is you and God.
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Working on the ABC movie 'Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige,'' which we filmed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was a special pleasure, particularly because I'd played baseball in high school.
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When we look at each other, we're the same family. You don't have to see black or Latino - we're one family. That's America.
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Sometimes I believe that the reason I have been able to do such exemplary work on the screen is because this is the only place I can be free, neither censured nor judged.
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I didn't know anything about acting, I didn't know anything about theater, but I was just an exceptional student at high school. I wanted to play ball; I'm going after a basketball scholarship and be a doctor. I got injured and my marks began to drop.
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'Avatar' was gorgeous. There are good stories in there, but when used in other movies they're similar to those violent video games. Characters using deadly weapons. The children follow these movies.
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My father was adopted. He grew up in the Italian household.
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I was at Woodstock. In the mud.
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I can do more than anyone suspects. I pride myself on my versatility. It took 32 years of difficult parts, second leads, villains and juveniles. The Oscar changed the quality of the roles I was being offered.
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One of the most fascinating projects I worked on right after 'Officer' was 'Sadat,' a role for which Anwar Sadat's widow, Jehan, personally chose me. Although this TV miniseries won me nominations for the Golden Globe and an Emmy, strangely, it was boycotted in the Middle East.
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The only time I was really free was when the director said 'Action' in front of a camera or on the stage, and that's when I flew.
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You never know when what you do in the arts means something to people, and you never really know if you've been received well.
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The Lord may not come when you want Him, but he's always going to be there on time.
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I was president of the schools in junior high and high school, got a scholarship to New York University, played a little basketball, and was a celebrity.
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We need to do whatever it takes to get our children together and pay attention to them, because that's our future. What's in the hearts and minds of our children is what's in our future.
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When I'm offered a role, I look at what I think I can do with it. I look to see if I can project myself into it.