Andre Holland

Whenever I have a play or opening or anything going on in my career, my parents always come up and see it.

My goal has always been to try to live up to every ounce of my potential. For me, that means working with the best people and working with the best material.

It's not every day you get to be in a movie about Jackie Robinson, so you want to do it as right as you can.

I think that a man should not be shy; you should say what you really think and feel - put it out there.

I do enjoy history. That's one of the things that I love about acting is you get a chance to really dive into history and develop a real personal opinion about it.

Shakespeare is definitely my first love.

I read a lot of W.E.B. Du Bois, who wrote 'The Souls of Black Folk.'

Theater is where I have the most experience and feel most at home, but I'm really, really loving film.

When you live in an environment where you aren't allowed to be fully who you are, you aren't taken seriously, and you aren't respected. What that actually does to a person's confidence and psyche is really fascinating to me.

A lot of people in the movie business don't have a point of reference for me; nobody really knows who I am.

I've written a couple of scripts. Actually, a pilot. I'm not sure I'm allowed to say, but it's a comedy about three young men in New York City, one of whom may or may not be a romantic like me.

The Knick' is set in New York during the 1990s, and it takes place around a hospital called The Knickerbocker. It's about a team of surgeons and nurses who are on the cutting edge of medicine.