I always have a backpack. I was a poet, so it reminds me of being a backpack poet.

I found poetry at 12 and 13 and, lo and behold, learned that my attorney father had a background in poetry - as he wore dashikis and Afros in the '70s and named his kids Arabic names. He was a poet and a lot like The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron and all of these folks. He definitely was an artist.

If your character is just out there acting a fool, viewers are gonna say, 'Why am I watching this?' But if he's whispering, 'I don't really want to die,' there's a level of vulnerability cemented in these bad characters.

When I think about the person who's been most in my ear, it's Joe Dumars.

Know that the tattoos are all significant. They're all extremely insignificant. I can't break each one down, but it's 20 years. The first one was 21 years of age from a football teammate.

To make your own family is just the most empowering thing ever. It's the greatest thing you can ever pull off.

For me, music was a cathartic way to free me from the nut of Ghost. After working on set for 'Power' for 14 hours, it allowed me to pour my sanity and insanity into the music.

I don't think you really have chemistry in the way that you want between two actors unless frustration is there as well.

I was a 200-pound defensive back on Saturday, but after the season, I was performing 'Lysistrata' or 'Fences.'

I've been writing for years, you know, and when I get to a particular place, city, or different locale, I find myself first of all being challenged by those that love me to write more.

If reality shows are so popular, that means their viewers are screaming for more realness.

I know that Donald Trump is a smart man.

I'd done 'Peter Pan' in a little pre-K class or whatever.

I would say that the woman's ability to multi-task and to be maternal in instinct, it fosters a different approach to the character that makes sense as an actor.

Poetry is almost like my foundation for everything. I almost feel I am a better actor and writer because of it.

Some of the most amazing people I've met in life are cops.

For a long time, I had been very secretive about a lot of the things I'd been through personally, and a lot of that is purposeful. My fan base, for the large part, is the younger generation. They're like, 'I want to know everything! I want to know it all!'

I grew up in Decatur, Georgia. We had three boys in the household; actually, it felt like four of us. My pops sort of raised my uncle, too. So, it was four boys and, later, a younger sister.

I don't think there's a fan out there who hasn't had a family member or known someone personally who's been in the midst of divorce - perhaps not necessarily gotten the divorce or executed it, or perhaps they have - and still, in many cases, they found themselves back with the person that they were married to.

I think 'Dark Blue' came to me while I was doing a project in London. I read it, and the character immediately popped out at me.

I'm not shutting myself off from kids; I'm remaining open to kids and the energy that they bring.

Poetry has, in a way, been my bridge to my acting career.

I worked on the workshop of 'Topdog/Underdog' before it went to Broadway. My minor in school was theater, so I'm based in that, and then I moved to Los Angeles.

I was raised looking at women who were strong, and they weren't really into playing race cards or playing gender cards. I didn't grow up around women who were like, 'Well, let the boys do that, and let the girls do that.' I didn't really see that in my house.

Women are amazing lovers.

I grew up in a two-parent household. We all played sports, all sports, which cost a lot of money. My pops was an attorney; he went to College of the Holy Cross with Clarence Thomas. My mom worked a bit, then gradually came home and took care of us full time.

Playing a cop goes a long way. I have a lot of friends who are working as actors, and as soon as I started playing military characters or cops, and not the actual criminal that we're chasing on this show, they all said, 'You actually can have a career now.'

I don't make a big deal out of playing football at UGA to people who have interviewed me.

I was at a ballpark as much as I was in school. I was on a basketball court or football field as much as I was in school, so I definitely was receiving mentorship when it came to coaches, my father, my grandfather, and my uncles.

I really had a problem with being 'the man.' I'm past it now, but that was my insecurity. I ran from that. I was cool with being No. 3 on the call sheet or No. 2.

Actors are intelligent. Yet, many of them do not communicate well. That's what makes it so hard to have a relationship with one.