» “For an African-American there’s a mythical duty to feel you’ve arrived in the Motherland. I was petrified I wouldn’t feel that, which would make me a bad black person. But this role made me engage with Africa on an intimate level.” – (On filming The Last King of Scotland in Uganda)

» “I don’t see myself directing for another 15-20 years, just because there’s so much that I want to do as an actor and as a producer in so many different mediums.”

» “I love writing, you know? About a year ago I got really exhausted from reading bad scripts and I know that I am a writer and that I have stories to tell, so I thought, “Let’s do this!” So I’m co-writing a screenplay now with another screenwriter and loving it. Absolutely loving it.”

» “I don’t really see myself not being able to act. Even if people don’t think I am sexy enough for film at 40, I’ll still be acting.”

» “I come from the theater and I plan to always do theater.”

» “I don’t think I’m even close to fulfilling my potential. And I think also that, unlike a pianist or a flutist, an actor has an instrument that is constantly changing.”

» “I try not to let my politics limit me artistically, and you know say like “well I can’t do that because I don’t ever want to play a black prostitute” or “I can’t do that because I don’t ever want to play,you know a drug addict”. I really try not to do that.What’s important to me is to make sure my characters ring true that they reflect a trueness to society because if I can bring out the true humanity of a character than I’m not perpetuating a stereotype I’m actually revealing a truth.”

» “It’s in the same way that I don’t read my reviews. I try not to get involved in all that stuff because what’s important to me is the work and however the work lives in the world is out of my control.”