“As an actor, you think you know your craft, you know the conflicts in your character, but often you don’t.”

No matter what you achieve, what you want to aspire to be, or how famous and powerful you become, the most important thing is whether you are excited about each and every moment of your life because of your work and people around you.

Practical knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work is much better. Theoretical knowledge is important, but I think practical knowledge works better.

When I was in the eighth standard, I would dance to ‘Suraj hua madham.’ I have to achieve many things before I become even the ‘S’ of SRK.

TV helped me understand camera angles, close-ups, master shots.

What keeps me going are my learnings, which I would rather call my ‘experience,’ and my urge to explore.

I have made a lot of mistakes, but I am proud of them all.

What people think of me doesn’t affect me. As bizarre as it sounds, I don’t have a Google alert on my phone; I don’t read newspapers, and I don’t watch television. If something important happens, I will get to know about it.

I realised quite early that by the time I articulate my thoughts into words, I’m on to another thought. And what comes out wasn’t what I thought of exactly. So not talking was a better option.

I left everything I had to become an actor. So, I better be excited, or otherwise, there is no point in doing all this. Else I would end up being disappointed with whatever I achieve.

Since I think I am very boring in normal life, I tend to hide behind all these exciting characters, making people believe that I am someone else entirely. That feeling is very powerful.

People assume that actors working in films won’t have the time to do theatre. But I make sure that whenever I’m free, I watch a play.

I read the script. If I like it, I would do anything I am asked to.

I never think about what people will think when they watch me on screen.

I am not bothered with whether my characters are conventional or not. Because I am not in this for the designer labels and the autographs.

I think people generally are lost, as they keep thinking about what is going to happen and what they have done. They are not alive anymore. The art of listening is missing. In their head, they are doing something else.

We should never forget the inevitable, as we will lose everything eventually. So, why fret over any kind of security? The idea is to just fly and experience it all while it lasts.

As an African-American actor, a lot of our stories haven’t been told.

The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.

It’s important to keep challenging myself and try to come up with some new face every now and again.

This created world really helped me as an actor. It heightened everything, which made it more dangerous, more interesting and more liberating.

This created world really helped me as an actor. It heightened everything, which made it more dangerous, more interesting and more liberating.

That’s your job as the actor, to understand the human part of the character, to make it real.

That’s your job as the actor, to understand the human part of the character, to make it real.

It’s what I learn from the great actors that I work with. Stillness. That’s all and that’s the hardest thing.