If I Get The Opportunity To Be

When I Was In High School, I Read The Whole Thing About Don King And He Had This Quote That Said, "set Yourself On Fire And The World Will Pay To Watch You Burn." I Thought That Was The Most Amazing Thing I'd Ever Heard And I Wrote It On My Wall.

One Thing That I've Been Very Vocal About Roles I Take, And My Representation Has Been Very Smart About, Is That I Didn't Go To Juilliard To Be "thug #2" In Movies. I Like To Be Challenged. I'd Say That About 40% Of The Roles I've Done Have Been Written For White Men.

It's Because The Idea Of What's Cool Is Different. When You Talk To A Girl Who Goes To Regular School, What's Cool Is Whether Or Not You've Been To Jail, Or If You Have A Car. If You Talk To A Girl Who Goes To Art School, What's Cool To Her Is If You Do Art Projects On The Weekend With Your Dad, If You Can Build Something - Out-of-the-norm Stuff.

At Juilliard, I Couldn't Afford To Have Fun. I Went To School And Stayed Home.

I Love What I Do. If I Have The Opportunity To Do What I Do With People I Admire, It's 10 Times Better.