Being raised Muslim, we had to get up at the crack of dawn to pray. There was no sleeping in, no getting up Saturday morning to watch cartoons because there was no TV in the house. But you got up and you worked, cleaned the house.
Malik Yoba
At the end of the day, there's so much work that has to be done to impact positive change in any direction you look.
I've always been an activist, so my participation in community outreach and helping is just a natural extension of that.
Baltimore and Detroit - they are solid cities.
Being a part of 'Empire' was a wonderful experience and opportunity to work with everyone involved.
Success is putting one step in front of the other to get through that door whatever that door is.
From a genre perspective and a character perspective, you know, sky's the limit.
I'm a very funny person that doesn't get the chance to do a lot of comedy, and the same thing with my accents.
My mother ran away from my father after 16 years of being married to him. She was 16 when she hooked up with him. She left him after having six kids.
Film and television, one is generally faster. Television generally moves faster in terms of directing, schedules and getting things done. Film, you're on a pretty tight schedule, so the process is the dame.
Most people haven't figured out when you are of service to other people outside of just yourself, the doorway for opportunity and blessings come in a very very different way.
As a black man, you learn at an early age the police are not your friends.
The issues that black men face oftentimes are the issues that everyone faces. Do you have the ability to be present? Are you working on yourself? Do you understand what it means to be a man? To be responsible, loving, vulnerable?
When you do a pilot, you can't always tell what you have.
To me, acting is simple. People put other things in front of it, but it's staying in truth.
It took me until my 40s to realize the five essential areas that are important to at least have a real dating chance. Obviously, beyond the physical compatibility, which is where we all start in junior high school, I think that intellectual compatibility and spiritual compatibility, emotional intelligence, and financial compatibility are important.
I've played lots of law enforcement agents, and I do have friends that are in the bureau, in the DEA, and who are detectives and captains.
If you tell yourself you can't, you're right.
I break rules all the time.
I don't think it pays to just be an artist, particularly for kids of color - there will be fewer roles.
We live in a world where mental health is real. Emotional health is real, and people feel like no one cares.
A lot of the shows I have done, I'm often the only black guy and I have often had to play second or third fiddle. It isn't necessarily a bad thing if it is a strong ensemble cast. But I feel people have overlooked my abilities.
People think acting is just memorizing lines and doing facial expressions. No it's about traveling along a path of discovery, intention and connection.
It's always nice when you see an email in your inbox that says 'offer,' then you read the email and go, 'Oh, okay. Who's doing it, what's it about?'
Food is very powerful.
Sometimes you have producers tell you 'I'm a huge fan, I'm a huge fan.' But David Guggenheim, I have so much love for this dude.
Accents are definitely one of my strong suits, and a lot of folks don't know that.
I've always had a lot of gay friends; transgender friends.
As I kid I watched 'Star Trek' and 'Battlestar Galactica.'
I come up from a music background.
Fred Bumaye shows great promise as a young filmmaker with a passion for story and the cinematic language.
I fear no one.
I knew that I wanted to create a restaurant like Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood that celebrated not just music or Hollywood, but who we were as people of color, as Caribbean, African, Cajun and Southern people.
As an adult I wasn't dying to participate in sci-fi projects.
Fantasies are not always what people think they are.
We didn't even have a T.V. in my house until I was 13. My dad called it the 'idiot box.'
A lot of times people are caught between doing the things they have to do versus following their passion and I'm someone who, at a very young age chose to be of service.
When you walk among your own people and you know that they have a question about your integrity and everyone's giving you the side-eye, the people that used to give you the love, that's a very interesting feeling.
My experience has shown me that many people struggle with forgiveness of self and/or others.
I'm a rabble rouser, man!
I've directed web series, music videos, film shorts, and theater. It's just a hat I put on.
If you go back and look at the pilot of 'Seinfeld,' no one would have thought that show would be what it became, and television isn't given that kind of chance anymore.
No matter what your dream is, first you have to think that anything is possible.
For me, I've always been an entrepreneur.
I've never been the actor that's waiting for a job. I always have 15,000 other things going on.
I made some money, some real money on my first real estate transaction.
I think it's hard for anyone to get into real estate or Hollywood.
Baltimore obviously has a lot of problems, but there are people there that have a lot of promise.
I used to walk in the burnt up Harlem of the '80s, and I'd look at brownstones that were dilapidated or apartment buildings, thinking 'Whoever designed this and built this did not want it to look like this.' So, I used to visualize one day being able to contribute and build in Harlem.
I've had the opportunity to work as an actor and tell stories that transform.
