TNA has been great as far as allowing me to have more input creatively on my character and the direction of my character and promos.
One never wants to do anything that's going to break that 'sculpture of the character' that's been done so far, or make anything that's been done so far become illogical in any way, so you always want to try to connect when you're doing a series of films that has a continuous character.
To me, it always comes down to character and script and then director. If a character belongs to me, it's mine. We belong to each other, and I feel a fierce need to tell that story, and it just so happens that a lot of these characters have been residing in pretty dark worlds.
I've played a different type of character in a different type of thing, for the most part. It's not like you can't mine tons of fascinating stuff from any character that you play, and I've always been fascinated with women and relationships, but this has been a completely different experience, for sure.
As a 6-foot, 6-inch, 300-pound black man, I've done everything I can to stay out of that box that Hollywood tries to put me in. I've been able to play a variety of roles, like the character of Vern in 'Shall We Dance?' with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez to the character of Neal in 'Things We Lost in the Fire.' I've been blessed.
I have never been stereotyped in one kind of character. I have been a part of reality shows, events, singing and dancing. No one has ever told me, 'She will fit only in this character or this look.' It has never happened to me, luckily.
Where does a character come from? Because a character, at the end of the day, a character will be the combination of the writing of the character, the voicing of the character, the personality of the character, and what the character looks like.
My character's kind of grown up with Katniss. The beginning of the story, they're more or less brother and sister than anything. They're best friends. They've been keeping each other alive. It's a little frustrating, for the character. As the character, not as me.
Usually viewers are attached to a character or that character's personality. But, in my case, I have been exceptionally lucky as I have been accepted as Shweta.
When you get into a film, it is one story and one set development of a character, and you are able to delve into one character for a short period of time and discover everything about them.
At times it's been weird because for the first phase of my career, I've been really well-known for a character that I was so not like and a character I never anticipated doing.
I am me. I've always been a character, and my character's story lives into pro wrestling.
Playing Mark Antony in 'Rome' will always be a favourite of mine because he was such an outrageously big and interesting character to play. Also, the fact that we were able, with that character, to find out and present the public with a biography of that man that had not been really seen before.
I think every time you take a female character, a black character, a Hispanic character, a gay character, and make that the point of the character, you are minimalizing the character.
I never agree to do a character that molests a woman. I have been very conscious not to do such roles. I believe that even a villain should have character, which people can remember.
Perhaps because my background is theatrical, I have a great affinity with the classics. Hamlet has always been a character of great interest to me and a character I would really love to play. Or a character in a Tennessee Williams play, maybe Tom in 'The Glass Menagerie.'