“I’m quite sensitive to women. I saw how my sister got treated by boyfriends. I read this thing that said when you are in a relationship with a woman, imagine how you would feel if you were her father. That’s been my approach, for the most part.”

A big part of what I wanted to do with this character was go from when I was a boy and try and develop into a man, really try and play him as a man who is on this search, on a journey of personal, spiritual, political, social discovery.

Failure is simply the non-presence of success. But a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions.

I’m trying to mix the cool, independent stuff with the big stuff, but it’s been difficult finding the right roles. It’s been an interesting ride as far as my career pendulum is concerned

I trained for three years at drama school to be an actor – not a celebrity.

I’m always amazed at anyone’s interest in what I have to say.

I’m probably a good boyfriend, but I’m pretty intense. When you’re with me it’s exciting, fun and very intense. At the same time, I’m easy going. But all that depends on what girl I’m with.

The thing about fame, is you never think it’s going to happen to you. So when it does, it’s sort of a shock. Some people are just better at it than others.

Creativity is the key for any child with dyslexia, or for anyone for that matter. Then you can think outside of the box. Teach them anything is attainable. Let them run with what you see is whatever they need to run with.

I did send a girl a plane ticket asking her for a visit, I guess that’s quite romantic.

I feel really privileged to be an actor, to be paid to do something I love.

If life isn’t about human beings and living in harmony, then I don’t know what it’s about.

When I was nine, I had this girlfriend and we used to have running races in the park. I wanted to be like Superman and fly in and rescue her.

Whatever happens in life is fine – just trust in that.

I got to work with one of my heroes, Johnny Depp, and to see how he goes about business, which was really inspiring for me at this stage in my career.

Everything you know, all the things that you thought were important, drift into the background. And even things that were important really come to the fore and he’s one of them.

Someone tried to save my soul in a gas station.

I don’t want my kids saying, ‘My dad was a gangster, so I need to be a gangster. I would rather mine say, ‘My dad was a stunna, so I need to be a stunna.

My parents are really conservative. My dad is Muslim, and my mom is the most conservative woman you’ve ever met. They’re very aristocratic in the most quaint suburban way.

I learned from my father to translate: everything I read I try to figure out what it really means, what it’s really saying.

There’s something different about growing up black and Muslim, especially in New Jersey. It’s like when I left the mosque and I left my dad, I felt unprotected, but I also felt a weird sense of pride, like I was involved in this other way of living that was cool to me.

In spite of the seven thousand books of expert advice, the right way to discipline a child is still a mystery to most fathers and mothers Only your grandmother and Genghis Khan know how to do it.

Nothing I’ve ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children.

Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope.

Time, as far as my father was concerned, was a gift you gave to other people.