It's been constant grinding and trying to secure work that I care about, tireless auditions and meetings. I've been fortunate that a lot of cool doors have opened to me, chiefly meeting great people who were inspired by what I've done and what they feel I could bring to their projects.
I've done a lot of theater work that has been quite diverse. I feel very fortunate to have had many different people think of me in many different ways. So, as an actor that's all you - all I want is diversity. So far in film and television work I have done has not been as diverse, and I hope it grows to be.
Obama, he wouldn't have been in office without what happened to me and a lot of black people before me. He would never have been in that situation, no doubt in my mind. He would get there eventually, but it would have been a lot longer. So I am glad for what I went through. It opened the doors for a lot of people.
I'm feeling pretty fortunate. I've been having lots of lovely auditions and meetings, so I'm savoring the moment.
I've been in a lot of cult movies, but I've been very fortunate to have been involved in projects that people remember.
I've been fortunate with my acting career. A lot of scripts come to me. I don't mind auditioning if something that requires that, but I haven't had to in awhile, which is a nice place to be 'cause I've been on quite a lot of auditions in my life.
Awkwardness gives me great comfort. I've never been cool, but I've felt cool. I've been in the cool place, but I wasn't really cool - I was trying to pass for hip or cool. It's the awkwardness that's nice.
I am aware that I have been incredibly fortunate in my life to work with the people that I have worked with and pursue the projects that I have been able to do. There are so many films that I have done that I really, as a film person, as a film fan, that I like. And that is a nice place to think of a career in.
I could have been insecure in 'Yamla Pagla'... if I wanted to be. With three actors who are amazing beyond belief and are a brand themselves, they don't even need me. They made sure that I was part of it. It's about the people whom you meet. They make you secure or insecure. It's their attitude. I have been very fortunate.
I could spend my life having meetings, a meeting to have another meeting, a hundred meetings to have another thousand meetings. It's not what I'm about. I don't want to have to get in a queue; that's not how I like to live.
We feel like if we can give back, that's what we are called to do. So we've been fortunate to do a lot of really cool things and touch a lot of people's lives.
The greatest thing about having done 'Orange' are the doors that have opened for me, and people have been able to see me, like the executives and the casting directors - also, all of the fantastic directors and writers for independent films.
A lot of people when I walk into meetings are like, 'Come on, let's talk more about 'X-Men.' What's it like to be Havok?' It certainly has been opening a lot of doors.
Arrested Development opened a lot of doors for me, and once I sort of became, I guess what you'd say "available," there was a lot of opportunity out there, and it's been nice; a lot of people have found it in their hearts to offer me movie parts.
I'm not going to sit here and say, 'Pity me; I came from modeling.' It's opened a lot of doors. People will take meetings because they've heard the name before. That's an advantage that I have.
America has always been the most fertile ground for models - and they were always exported to other countries. When Eastern Europe opened up its doors to the rest of the world, a lot of the girls that were basically working there for $1 a month realized that if they were beautiful and that they could go to Paris and work for $1,000 a day versus the $10,000 that the other girls were demanding. So it created a huge imbalance in the financial structure of how clients could budget out campaigns. The market became flooded.
If it wasn't for the British musicians, a lot of us black musicians in America would still be catchin' the hell that we caught long before. So thanks to them, thanks to all you guys. You opened doors that I don't think would have been opened in my lifetime. When white America started paying attention to the blues - it started opening a lot of doors that had been closed to us.