I've been writing all my life, and playing bass came later on, when I was about 26. What I recognized with poetry and music that I had a different voice - there were things I wanted to express that I could not as an actor or even as a director. It was another avenue of expression that my soul needs.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Obviously, we all look at things through the filter of our own experiences.

African-Americans are not a monolithic group. So, we tend to talk about the black community, the black culture, the African-American television viewing audience, but there are just as many facets of us as there are other cultures.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Wing Win Vision

I've met men who have been married 19, 20 years, and all of a sudden the wife decides one day she needs to find herself.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Men Years Year

I've always been a poet. My dad went to Lincoln University with Gil-Scott Heron, so I came out of the womb listening to Gil-Scott Heron.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Womb Wit Ways

There's something very surreal about driving a truck, looking in the rearview mirror, and seeing 20 cop cars behind you. Even though you know, 'We're just shooting. This is just a scene; we're making a movie here,' it's very unsettling.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Car You View

Our differences - in race, sexual preference, economic - have always been used as distractions to keep us divided. We get so wrapped up in our own stories that we can't hear each other.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Wrapped Wrap Ways

My band, Miles Long, is a jazz-funk spoken word band. There's jazz sensibilities, but I'm a bass player, so I'm very much into the head-bobbing vibe with sophisticated lyrics.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Word Wit Vibe

I used to say that it won't be until I'm 40, 50, 60 years old, still working consistently, will I be able to look back on my career and say, 'Wow, I have been successful.'

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Work Success Car

I have two main bass guitars, and my main bass is a four-string 1964 Fender Jazz, and I've named it Justine.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Us Two Tin

Acting had been a hobby that turned into a career, the directing was a hobby that turned into a career and music just really allowed me to find another way to express myself.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Music Car Wed

I never wanted to look back on my career and be embarrassed about work that I chose to do.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Work Car Wanted

But there's a huge blessing that comes from being a part of a show like 'The Cosby Show' that sets such a high standard of quality - it touched so many people on so many different levels.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Art Touched Touch

My perspective was always being on a number one show doesn't mean anything if I'm not still working consistently at 40 to 50 and 60 years old.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Work Years Year

Being a celebrity can be very intoxicating and very addicting. And I've always been afraid of that, because I've grown up post-almost every child star out there who has gone wayward.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

War Who Ways

Mr. Cosby wanted to do a show not about an upper-middle-class black family, but an upper-middle-class family that happened to be black. Though it sounds like semantics, they're very different approaches.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Family Wanted Want

Doing 'Malcolm and Eddie' was probably the foremost miserable years of my life.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Life Years Year

People kind of have a misconception, because when someone calls me Theo and I correct them, say, 'No, my name is Malcolm,' they think I have an attitude about it and I don't want to be associated with the show.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Attitude Wit Want

Acting had been a hobby that turned into a career, the directing was a hobby that turned into a career, and music just really allowed me to find another way to express myself. I started playing bass in November 1996, and by June 1998 I was doing my first live show.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Music Car Art

I planned so well for my post-'Cosby Show' life that I don't have to make desperate acting choices that conflict with what my values.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Life Wit Well

When I'm not working, I'm on the road with my band. Or I'm performing in poetry houses doing spoken work. So I've got another passion and another outlet that allows me to be creatively fulfilled and not sitting at home pulling my hair out waiting for the right role to come along.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Work Poetry Home

I never wanted to look back on my career and be embarrassed about work that I chose to do. I never wanted to look at character I've done and cringe.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I never wanted to be one of those 'Where are they now?' kids.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

In spite of what some people claim, we are not in a post-racial era. I think it's still an important issue to bring up.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

The beautiful thing about theater is every night is an opportunity to incorporate what you discovered the night before.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

A lot of times what happens is, not even just with child actors, but people in general, is they get so caught up in the now. The hot song, the hot TV show, the hot movie. You're not saying 'OK, this is cool, but where am I trying to be 20 years from now?' That's always been in the forefront of my mind.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I was doing community theater since I was about nine.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

The Bill Cosby I know has been great to me and great for a lot of people. What he's done for comedy and television has been legendary and history-making. What he's done for the black community and education has been invaluable. That's the Bill Cosby I know.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

People who feel under-appreciated sometimes make desperate moves.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I would love to play just an all out bad guy who has fun being malicious. It would be totally unexpected, and that's what would make it exciting. Plus, bad guys don't see themselves as bad guys, so you could have fun with that.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I've been writing all my life, and playing bass came later on, when I was about 26. What I recognized with poetry and music that I had a different voice - there were things I wanted to express that I could not as an actor or even as a director. It was another avenue of expression that my soul needs.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Though my music audience is cross-generational, like my television audience, my core demographic is people like myself. People who have grown up on hip-hop, but hip-hop doesn't necessarily speak to us any longer.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Since the beginning of establishment, poets and spoken word artists have always been both vocal supporters and critics of government. And in this age of Trump as President, alternative facts, falsehoods becoming truth at the send of a tweet, it's vital that spoken word poetry does its job helping to keep folks 'woke' and not numb or shut down.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Theater is my favorite platform. Television is my favorite paycheck. The more television I can do, the more theater I can do.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I don't belong to a motorcycle club, but I know a lot of guys who do. I ride with some guys who do.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

When we've had images that perpetuate the negative stereotype of people of color, we've always had 'The Cosby Show' to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that kinda leaves us not in a great place in terms of having the wide scope of the images of people of color.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

It's hard not to look at the road of the media and how the media is a big part of painting a picture for public opinion.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

When you're an independent artist, you need as much play or promotion as you can get.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I have accepted that even when Mr. Cosby is long gone, I will still get asked about him.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Theater is such its own living, breathing animal. You do a show every night, but it's different every night. Being on stage, you're experiencing a journey.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I was definitely acutely aware, the transition of being seen as a child actor to being taken seriously as an adult actor. It's not always a smooth one.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I think one of the greatest advantages we had on the show growing up was being exposed to Mr. Cosby - being exposed to his work ethic, being exposed to how he handles the job of celebrity and living in the public eye... I think that all had a real significant impact.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

What's interesting is, say, the O.J. trial and when the verdict came out, and there were people who celebrated, and there were people who thought that he's guilty, and it's a crime. Those reactions tend to be filtered through our own experiences.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I'm trying to break the stereotypical role now of the Theo-type character because, in my post-'Cosby' life, as I call it, I don't want to be known as just the kind of guy who can play a Theo Huxtable-type character. I want to be known as being able to do more things, being able to stretch.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

When I was hanging out with Joey Clements in Chicago, I made it a point not to try to emulate him. I wanted basically to create my own character. I didn't want him to think I was hanging out with him solely to use him as research.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I didn't go into acting because I wanted to be a role model.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner