“One of the first things I was taught as an actor was, ‘Don’t judge the character.’”

In television you don’t have a lot of time to spend with the role or the script. Typically you get a script a week prior to shooting. Sometimes it’s even less time, not enough time to dream about the role.

The industry looks for white actors and actresses, but it’s not the same for black actors. We have to really put the work in.

I wasn’t a comic book geek as a kid. I read some, but it was just like, ‘Oh, I have this comic book here.’ It wasn’t like I was collecting them.

When you’re doing a character, you want to know the full landscape. You want to know them spiritually, mentally and physically.

People have said, ‘You don’t need to do any more biopics. You don’t need to play any more real people.’ I don’t agree with that.

I’m not really interested in being a superhero. That’s not a box I’ve been trying to check off.

Baseball players need strength but also the ability to make fast-paced, explosive movements, so their training is all about strengthening the tendons around the bone and the joint so you don’t tear the muscles from the bones.

I got scars from every film I’ve done, every TV show.

Guys are natural problem solvers – they like to have strategies.

We live in a world where people can ridicule you at the push of the button. They can question you at the push of a button.

Our lives depend on vote.

You think you can’t change the world? You can.

Nobody has to give me permission to write.

They should probably have a James Brown aerobic tape. You would lose a lot of weight.

When you play characters, you shouldn’t just be putting on their characteristics – you should be finding it inside yourself.

You’re not free unless you can show the good and the bad, all sides of them. So to me, when I play a character, it’s important that I can show every aspect of them.

For a long time, I was almost ashamed of being an actress. I felt like it was a shallow occupation. People would be watching my every move.

I’m always inspired by actresses who are older than me. Because I know that person has lived so much more life than I have. There’s a whole other toolbox.

I’m no actor and I never have been. What people see on the screen is me.

I think it’s sort of a rite of passage for a British actor to try and get the American accent and have a good crack at doing that.

If any child of mine becomes an actor I will turn in my grave.

The role of an actor is to make every character believable.

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

The actors that I do know are people who I think have souls, you know?