I would love to play the villain, but again, it's sort of what happens in this industry.

There are lots of stories about my culture that I think bring a whole other perspective to who we are and where we have been and how we got here that I think need to be done.

Basically, the actor's job is to pay attention to the script.

James Cameron has always been way ahead of the curve in terms of the use of technology in his movies.

Film and television is just a different technique in terms of how to approach the camera but basically the job is the same; but what you learn as a craft in theater, you can then learn to translate that into any mediums.

If there's no craft there, then once the looks go, there goes your career.

Everywhere I go, someone stops me and says, 'Oh, you're that guy from 'Terminator 2.'' So, it's something that has, you know, been around me since the movie came out.

If you live a good life, that seems to be what really matters. If there is something afterwards, terrific. If not, you haven't lost anything.

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.'

I guess on one hand I believe it doesn't matter if there is life after death.

Hollywood, it seems, recognizes black film and black filmmakers, but like a distant lover, never close enough or long enough to forge a meaningful relationship.

Hollywood has successfully produced many films framed by anti-racist or pro-integrationist story lines. I'm going to guess that since 'Gone With The Wind,' Hollywood realized films about racism and segregation pull at the heartstrings of everyone and hopefully serve to purge a sense of guilt.

Perhaps, despite my objections, the success of films like: 'The Help,' 'Django,' 'The Butler,' or '12 Years a Slave,' will further persuade Hollywood to widen its view and edit its erroneous perception of what a commercial black film can look like.

You make up your mind what part you want to read for and why. It's kept me focused - on what's important, what I want, and what I don't.

I was different. I got beat up every day.

It's a very different thing when you're creating the world as opposed to when you're just part of the world. I love the detail of it, the problem-solving of it, and I love working with actors.

In most science-fiction pictures, the black guy is either an engineer or a radio operator, and he is the first guy killed - gone from the movie.

I want to put something on the screen that audiences have never seen black actors do before, roles that will widen views of who African-Americans are.

Acting-wise, it's always exciting to come back for a third season of any TV show that you're working on.

I think that's what good writing is all about. You go into a genre to talk about other things. Tolkein created a whole world to talk about the world he lived in.

I always feel like I'm running an hour and a half late.

When was the last time you saw a straight black love story without any guns?

I entered Hofstra University as a psychology major.

Everyone does what they believe they need to do in order to survive in this business, 'survive' being the operative word.

When I first came into New York City, what I did was, I didn't have very much money, and I couldn't afford pictures or a resume, so what I used to do is I would tear off the back of a matchbook, and I'd write my name and telephone number on the back of the matchbook.

You want to be challenged, so you feel like you want to get up and wrestle with the character or enjoy the character - especially with a TV show, because you know you could be doing it for a long time, so you want to make sure it's something you really enjoy.

I think, very often, we're addicted to procedurals, those good guy/bad guy shows, and the 'problem' with procedurals is they all follow the same formula: The bad guy does his thing, the good guy goes after him, and in most cases, the good guy figures out who did it and catches him.

It's funny: We have so many shows and so many channels and so many things to occupy people as entertainment, especially with a show like 'Scandal,' which is clearly a hit, with a lot of heat around it - but every once in a while, people will say, 'What are you doing?' and I'll say 'Scandal,' and they'll have no idea what I'm talking about.

I think that, unfortunately, it appears that Donald Trump is trampling all over the Constitution.

I've never liked much of reality television, mostly because it involves humiliation.

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.

'Paycheck,' I thought, was a really, really good idea. I never got an opportunity, unfortunately, to read the novel, but I loved the idea of how to deal with intellectual properties. I just don't know that we necessarily got to the heart of that particular idea. I think it became more of a chase movie than anything else.

I love doing theater. Despite the fact that out of theater, film, and TV, theater is the hardest thing to do. It's the least paid, and we all have these bills that we have to pay.

I don't think you can play a villain with a negative point of view.

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.

'Breaking Bad' - when I started watching that show, I thought it was terrific. I love the way it was shot. I love the writing. I love the arc of Bryan Cranston's character. I just thought that was just really, really a wonderful, wonderful show.

In the case of Papa Pope, certainly he's making his daughter's world and the world of the republic a much better place.

We live in a world where racism hasn't changed at all. It's that old thing of, you know, the more things change, the more things remain the same.

My father was in the military; he was a captain. His service was to quote-unquote integrate the Armed Forces overseas.

I don't watch a lot of television, which sounds strange for someone who works in TV.

I think it might be interesting to give an Emmy to an outstanding background performance in either a comedy or drama series.

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.

Dick Gregory will be greatly missed. Humbly, and in his stead, 'Turn Me Loose' carries on to be his voice and his inspiration for all who wish to laugh at the absurdity of racism and be enlightened by his spirit of justice.

My whole career has been a landmark. So I don't think about the pressure too much. I just go out and do, because I believe in it.

I've played good guys for most of my career, and when I came out to California, I thought, 'I really would like to find some wonderfully intelligent bad guy to play.'

I think the responsibility that any actor has is to bring some truth to the work.

Most of my career I purposely spent doing good guys.

If you've been on top of the food chain in the Armed Forces, that's who you are. You're used to dealing with your life in a particular way.

When you give your children certain life lessons, and they come and ask you for additional advice, you say to yourself, 'I've done my job,' and you'll continue to do your job.

To work for Shonda Rhimes is heaven. It's been amazing.