After the success of 'Empire' and 'How to Get Away with Murder' and 'Scandal' and 'Power' and 'Black-ish', which all had characters that were genuine, authentic, and had the language of real people, I found myself coming into pilot season and every network just wanted to have their version of one of those shows.

Jay Ellis

I think our life is a journey, and we make mistakes, and it's how we learn from those mistakes and rebound from those mistakes that sets us on the path that we're meant to be on.

Jay Ellis

I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, which is both settling and terrifying. The roller coaster is going, and there is no jumping off at this point unless I just go nuclear. It's a really interesting part of the whole journey.

Jay Ellis

I run the material, always with two people, sometimes three. We all see things so differently, so to get a couple of people's perspectives on what I'm doing and the material itself is insanely helpful for honing in on what to take into the audition room.

Jay Ellis

I love to study people and pick apart what makes a person or character who they are. I never want to get complacent in that.

Jay Ellis

I had a journalist slap me, and it wasn't anyone that I had ever met before. I was at the airport.

Jay Ellis

I love the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.' I love everybody. I loved every single person in the Cosby house, I loved every single person who went to Hillman.

Jay Ellis

Agents run a business, and their business is their talent; some are more general and broad and can rep a little bit of everything; some are more niche. You have to be specific with who you approach and how.

Jay Ellis

I like to be fulfilled in telling stories and in creating, but I'm just a curious person.

Jay Ellis

I'm not a believer in 'what you don't know won't hurt you,' unless it's innocent.

Jay Ellis

A lot of what you're seeing these characters go through is something that either is a story one of the actors told in the writers' room or one of the writers themselves told in the writers' room.

Jay Ellis

There are tons of talented people out there, and we just don't get a chance to get into this system. I want to be a part of that. I want to help these young, diverse, unique voices tell stories.

Jay Ellis

I think we still live in this era of hyper-masculinity.

Jay Ellis

I worked for a smoothie company, and that was rough. I also sold women's shoes for a very long time. That was super rough.

Jay Ellis

Dating, to people, can mean completely different things.

Jay Ellis

After the success of 'Empire' and 'How to Get Away with Murder' and 'Scandal' and 'Power' and 'Black-ish', which all had characters that were genuine, authentic, and had the language of real people, I found myself coming into pilot season and every network just wanted to have their version of one of those shows.

Jay Ellis

Everyone has a role, no matter where you are on the globe.

Jay Ellis

Where I went to high school at was a predominantly white town, and I definitely got pulled over a number of times for driving in the wrong car on the wrong side of town. As you get older, you start to realize that at any moment, there could be a trigger, and that could be you in that situation.

Jay Ellis

I want to create this pool of talent to draw from, and I hope that people get inspired to make more web series and bring them to me to help develop.

Jay Ellis

Storytelling is always evolving, but if you allow people with new voices and perspectives to come in, you open audiences up to different walks of life.

Jay Ellis

Young women who come to Rise every weekend range from ages 15-19 years if they're in school and 19-24 years if they're out of school. These empowered young women talk about protecting themselves, their friends and communities and how they can educate people to help break the stigma surrounding AIDS.

Jay Ellis