Growing up in the South, I was raised to be a Negro boy. I was acutely aware how other people perceived me, and that informed my behavior. That worked for a period of time, but it could also be suffocating.

1985 - That was my time in New York, and I have such poetic, fond memories.

The rules I sort of live by for my theater career, which I hope to live for my film career, is that if there's something that intrigues me or fascinates me, or I don't know how to do it, then I should do it.

In Los Angeles, wealth and poverty are separated by the freeways. In New York, they're next to each other.

I find happiness in the tiniest things.

I want fame more than I can tell. But more than I want fame I want happiness.

If you set out to write an adjective novel, you're setting out to write a mediocre novel; your allegiance is to the adjective, not to the story, and then that just sucks all the joy right out of it.

For me, life is about being positive and hopeful, choosing to be joyful, choosing to be encouraging, choosing to be empowering.