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I Think That Having A Black President In This Country Has Been A Seismic Shift, In Terms Of What Has Been Going On Racially In America. I Think That America Is Now Engaging With How We Have Come To This Point.

-David Oyelowo

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I Think That Having

David Oyelowo

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I Think That Having A Black President In This Country Has Been A Seismic Shift, In Terms Of What Has Been Going On Racially In America. I Think That America Is Now Engaging With How We Have Come To This Point.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Was Never A Man To Say 'i've Got This' As The Leader Of The Movement. He Wasn't Always Sure That His Decisions Were Correct, Because He Knew Every Decision He Made Was Putting Lives At Risk, Including His And His Family's Lives.

Sunday At 11 O'clock Is The Most Segregated Hour In America. You Have Black Churches; You Have White Churches; You Have Hispanic Churches. It's Not Really Reflective Of The World We Live In, By And Large, In America.

I Do Think Opportunity Breeds Bravery. It's Such A Competitive Profession, No One Owes You Anything, Talent In Itself Is Not Enough. I Went To Drama School With So Many Great Actors Who Are Not Doing It Anymore And It's Circumstantial.

I Think That Having A Black President In This Country Has Been A Seismic Shift, In Terms Of What Has Been Going On Racially In America. I Think That America Is Now Engaging With How We Have Come To This Point.

Considering How Pervasive Interracial Marriage Is, Certainly In American Society, It Is Rare We Get To See It Depicted On Film.

Interracial Marriage

I'm One Of Those Actors Who Says, "point Me Toward The Work That Matters To Me And I Don't Care Where You're Putting It. Television Show. Movie. Projected On The Back Of Someone's Garage." If That's Where The Work Is That's Exciting To Me And Moving, I Want To Be There.

I Truly Believe That One Of The Things That Has Been Lacking In The Usa Is A Spirit Of Repentance About The Injustices Of Slavery And The Injustices Of Segregation And Racism Generally.

Getting To Do What I Think Was My Fifth Bbc Drama With Nikki Amuka-bird - We've Done 'shoot The Messenger,' 'five Days,' 'the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency,' 'born Equal' And Now 'small Island' - Was Another Highlight For Me. And Filming In Jamaica Was Great, Too.

I Know That There Is Still A Lot Of Bitterness And Anger, And Arguably Justifiably So, When You Think About How Brutal Slavery Was And What Its Brutal Legacy Still Is.

The Wonderful Situation That I Find Myself In Now, Is That Choosing The Roles I Want Is More Of A Reality For Me. As A Result, I Take It Very Seriously, Because I Find This Opportunity In Film To Be A Very Powerful And Influential Medium.

To Break Down Prejudice Is To Get To A Place Of Understanding, That Can Erode The Ignorance.

I Would Make The Tea On A Daniel Day-lewis Set Just To Observe How He Crafts Roles Like He Did In 'my Left Foot.' That Was The Equivalent Of Seeing Haley's Comet For Me. I Just Couldn't Understand How That Was Possible.

If You Merely Focus On What We Already Know, Then It's Not Revelatory. You May As Well Just Go And Watch A Documentary Or A Few Videos On Youtube, And You're Good.

I Basically Enjoy Doing Films That Are About Something, That Have Complex Roles That I Can Sink My Teeth Into. Basically, I Gravitate To Things That Scare Me. They Might Be Things That I Don't Think I Know How To Play. I Like Trying To Find Within Me Where This Character May Exist. Whether Is It Is A Fictional Character Or Not I Am Not Motivated By That. It Is More About How Challenging It Is. It Is Just So Happens That The More High Profile Things I Have Done Have Been Historical Characters.

I Think It's Vital To Have Something Outside Your Acting To Keep You Rooted In The Real World, And Help You Fill The Vacuum. If You Have Nothing Else, It Can Be Unhealthy. For Me Being A Christian Has Been Invaluable: It Simply Means Acting Isn't The Centre Of My Life.

I Certainly Don't Feel There's A Distinction To Be Made Between A Television And A Film Actor. I Think There's A Distinction Between Great Actors And Not So Great Actors. But I Really Think If You Watch A Person Working In Television Give A Wonderful Performance, That Person Is F - Ing Great, Because There Is No Time.

I Love That As A Black Person I've Experienced Not Being A Minority. I Think That's Helped Me To Combat The Minority Mentality People Can Have Here, Which Can Stop Them Scaling The Heights.

I Seem To Be Able To Disassociate My Insecurities. I Know A Lot Of Actors - Some Of The Best Actors In The World - Can't Bear To Watch Themselves And I Have To Say I Can't Relate To That.

I Truly Believe That We Cannot Come To A Place Of Reconciliation Until There Is Individual Repentance And Corporate Repentance.

At The End Of The Day, Everyone Knows What It Is To Be Loved And To Aspire To Love Someone, To Want To Be Loved, The Loss Of Love, Or Having Their Love Be Opposed, Whether It Is Family, Friends Or Politically.

The End Of The Day

Considering That I'm British And I Talk The Way I Do, I Love It When A Director Takes A Chance On Me.

Whether We Like To Admit It Or Not, As Artists, We Do Project Our Own Worldview On To What We Do.

My Ambition Is To Keep The Audience Guessing... That Is My Path To A Long Career.

We're Not Served By Only Knowing Our Finest Hours Through Film Or Media, Or In The History That We Are Taught. I Think The Only Way We Have A Chance To Not Make The Same Mistakes Again, Is To Historically Understand The Bad Behavior And Mistakes We've Made Previously.

I Admire Many Actors, Though I Don't Think There's Anyone Whose Career I Would Want To Mirror Sort Of By The Beats. What I'm Really Looking To Do Is Constantly Defy Expectations. I'm Very Curious To See If You Can Actually Have A Character Actor And A Movie Star's Career Combined.

I Think Until Britain Acknowledges Just How Much Of A Presence Black People Had Here Before The Sixties, Then There Are Certain Stories That Are Not Going To Be Inclusive Of What I Have To Offer.

I Think That Having A Black President In America Has Been A Seismic Shift, In Terms Of What Has Been Going On Racially In America. I Think That America Is Now Engaging With How We Have Come To This Point.

I Like To Think Of Myself As A Physical Actor.

The Perception Of Africa, Whether In The U.s. Or In Europe, Is Of A Continent That Needs Help, And Cannot Pull Itself Up. That Is Just Not True.

Africa Is Trying To Find Its Way Back To A Sense Of Itself, When Much Of That Was Lost Through Colonization.

I'm Very Aware That People Find My Wife And I's Marriage Disagreeable. But All I Have To Do Is Look At My Four Kids, And The Love I Have In My Heart For My Wife After 18 Years Of Marriage, And The Ugliness Does Fade.

I Think The Notion That We Are Different Just Because Of Skin Color, And That We Should Be Kept Apart Or Kept From Interbreeding, Is Very Hurtful.

People Have Compact To Go Beyond Our Own Culture And Upbringing To A Degree That I Think We Don't Acknowledge Enough Really.

I Truly Believe That One Of The Things That Has Been Lacking In America Is A Spirit Of Repentance About The Injustices Of Slavery And The Injustices Of Segregation And Racism Generally. I Truly Believe That We Cannot Come To A Place Of Reconciliation Until There Is Individual Repentance And Corporate Repentance.

When I Am Playing A Role Far Away From Me With An Accent That Is Not Mine I Always Employ A Dialect Coach. I Am Almost Always Playing Someone That Has An Accent That Is Not Mine.

Playing Someone

I Was Sometimes Called 'coconut' When I Was At School.

I Truly Believe Slavery Is Why, As A By-product, We Still Have A Disproportionate Amount Of Black Men Incarcerated In The Usa. It Is An Extension Of That Legacy, And That's Not Going To Start To Diminish Until Black People Have A New Sense Of Themselves That Isn't Tied To Slavery And Feeling Inferior. I Think The Church Can Be Instrumental In That, In Terms Of Repentance, Reconciliation And Just Being More Embracing Of Each Other - Not Just On Sunday, But In Life Generally.

Excellence Is The Best Weapon Against Prejudice.

There's A Nimble Quality To The Way A Television Actor Can Work. When That Muscle Gets Strong It's A Very Valuable Thing.

I Have Been In Films Before Where People Have Been In A Rush To Label Them As A Black Film Or Even As A History Lesson. These Are Ways To Make The Film Feel Niche And Not For Everyone.

I Turned Down A Lot Of Easier Opportunities In Order To Go For The Things That I Really And Ultimately Wanted To Do. And What's Really Nice Is That It's Starting To Work. I've Been An Actor For Coming Up On 14 Years Now And The Level Of Activity That's Taking Place Now Is A Culmination Of A Slow Cooker Approach To As Opposed To A Microwave.

Because I Was Aspirational, I Did My Work, I Was Respectful To My Teachers, I Experienced A Lot Of Bullying From The Black Kids. My Friends Were Largely White Or Asian.

There Is Still A Fundamental Misunderstanding, When It Comes To Observing That When Someone Is Black And Someone Is White, Then That Difference Is Enough To Warrant The Idea That They Shouldn't Be Together. We Are So Much More Alike In Nature Than We Are Different, And My Ambition With The Roles I Choose To Do Is To Break Down That Prejudice, By Showing How Much I - As A Man - Am Just A Man.

There Are Many, Many Communities, Many Ethnic Minorities, Many Civilizations That Have Been Brutalised By Others And You Have To Move On. You Cannot Perpetually Stay In That Place Of Blame, Otherwise It's Just A Downward Spiral.

In What I Do For A Living, Trust And Confidence Are Key. Inevitably, You Can't Make Brave Choices And Do Your Best Work, If You Don't Have Those, Because It's Such A Subjective Art Form, And You Don't Have Eyes On Yourself.

I Know For A Fact The Reason I'm An Actor Is Because One, Two, Maybe Three People When I Was Younger Saw Something That I Did, In Youth Theater Or Some Small Play Somewhere, And Said, "you're Good."

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One Of The Things The Bbc Does Better Than Anyone Is Period Drama.

Find The Audience, Be Excellent, And You Will Be Fine.

I Have A Bee In My Bonnet As To How Few Black Historical Figures One Sees On Film; Incredible Stories, Stories From Which We Are Living The Legacy And Which Just Don't Get Made.

I Think What A Lot Of People Don't Realize Is How Much Being The Leader Of This Movement Weighed Upon Him. After All, He [dr. Martin Luter King] Was Only 39 Years-old When He Was Assassinated, And Only 36 During The Selma Campaign. He Always Seemed Older Than He Actually Was, And I Believe Part Of That Had To Do With Just How Much Life He Had To Live In Order To Lead This Movement.

Female Directors, Directors Of Color Are A Big Thing For Me, Which Are Both Important Voices And Potent Voices That Need To Be Heard. That's How I Want To Engage Myself As An Actor Going Forward.

It's Fascinating To Work With A Company Of Actors Of Such Different Ages, Experience And Talents. I'm One Of A Generation Brought Up On Television Whose Acting Is More 'naturalistic', Whereas With Some Of The Older Generation It's More Heightened. But I Think There's Room For Both Styles.

I Consider Myself A Human Being, A Christian, A Father, A Husband, So Many Things, Before Being A Black Person.

Asher Means 'happy And Blessed' Which Embodies My Eldest. Caleb Means 'stubborn And Tenacious Dog' And I Can't Even Tell You How Much That Is My Little Boy! It Was A Useful Warning.

For Me, I'm Always Looking For Opportunities To Work With People Who Are Better Than Me, Who Are More Experienced Than Me, People From Whom I Can Learn. And Who Could I Learn More From Than Someone With An Unprecedented Movie Star Career That Has Spanned Over Thirty Years Whose Name Is Tom Cruise?

One Of The Occupational Hazards Of Being An Actor, The Reason Why So Many Actors Are Insecure, Is That The Only Way We Know We're Good Is When Other People Tell Us.

I Feel Television Is In A Fantastically Rich Vein Of What It's Presenting Both By Opportunity To Actors And To Audiences.

When You Reflect Upon The Significance Of Dr. King To This Nation, It's Criminal That He Hasn't Had A Feature Film That Was Centered Around Him Until Now. That, In And Of Itself, Was Emotional. But When You're Doing Scenes On The Edmund Pettus Bridge, With People Still Living In Selma And Now In Their 60s And 70s Who Had Actually Marched, Who Were There That Original Bloody Sunday, That's Humbling... That's Deeply Moving. You're No Longer Acting At That Stage, You're Just Reacting, Because It Takes The Filmmaking Process To Another Dimension.

Don't Send Me Your Script If You Want Me To Play The Black Best Friend; I Just Won't Do That.

I'm Very Aware Of How Much Movies, Literature And Art Affect Culture. They Are A Reflection Of The World Around Us And They Are Also A Means By Which We Engage With The World Around Us.

As You Know, Sunday At 11 O'clock Is The Most Segregated Hour In America. You Have Black Churches; You Have White Churches; You Have Hispanic Churches. It's Not Really Reflective Of The World We Live In, By And Large, In America.

Hate Cannot Overcome Hate; Only Love Can Do That.

I Truly Believe Slavery Is Why, As A By-product, We Still Have A Disproportionate Amount Of Black Men Incarcerated In America. It Is An Extension Of That Legacy, And That's Not Going To Start To Diminish Until Black People Have A New Sense Of Themselves That Isn't Tied To Slavery And Feeling Inferior. I Think The Church Can Be Instrumental In That, In Terms Of Repentance, Reconciliation And Just Being More Embracing Of Each Other - Not Just On Sunday, But In Life Generally.

I Love Tennis, Love It!

I Know I Had My Equivalents In Adrian Lester And Lenny James When I Was At Drama School. I Remember David Harewood Doing 'othello' At The National, And Adrian Lester Having Done Cheek By Jowl's Famous 'as You Like It And Company' At The Donmar. Not Necessarily Performances I Saw, But Just The Fact They Happened Was Massively Encouraging.

I Don't Have A Tailor, But I Do Love Clothes.

Martin Luther King Was A Voice To The Voiceless, And He Did That Tirelessly, And His Faith Was The Engine To That. But He Was Just A Human Being, At The End Of The Day.

The End Of The Day

You're Always Looking For Roles And Other Creatives Who Are Going To Be Challenging To You, Because You're Always A Better Actor After The Experience.

I Gravitate Towards Anything That Feels Challenging To Me, That Feels Like It's Gonna Be Saying Something A Bit Different And New To The Audience, And Anything That Moves Me. I Do Movies That I Would Want To See, So I Don't Necessarily Gravitate Towards Any Genre In Particular. I Just Try And Do The Best Work I Can And Also Try To Keep The Audience Guessing.

You Can’t Have People Curating Culture In This Way When We Need To See Things In Order To Reform From Them.

The Thing That Would Probably Surprise Most People Was That Dr. Martin Luther King Was A Very Reluctant Leader. He Felt Very Shocked At Times That He Had Been Chosen For This Path, But He Also Understood That He Was Chosen For This Path. He Had Several Moments Of Acute Doubt As To If He Was Up For The Task - When People Were Injured In The Protests He Took It Very Personally, Let Alone When They Were Killed.

I Am A Father, I Am Very Aware Of The Things That I'm Putting Out In The World Knowing That One Day My Children Will Watch The Work That I've Done. I Want To Be Able To Stand By It.

One Of The Things I Have An Allergic Reaction To Playing, Especially As A Black Actor, Is The Mandatory Kind Of Best Friend/cop/detective Type. You Will Never See Me In That Movie.

That's What's So Satisfying About Acting. You Can Come As Prepared As You Like, But There's No Accounting For What's Going To Come At You From The Other Actor. That's Part Of The Joy And The Play Of It. If You Don't Have That It's A Different Kind Of Performance.

My Parents Are Very Hard Working People Who Did Everything They Could For Their Children. I Have Two Brothers And They Worked Dog Hard To Give Us An Education And Provide Us With The Most Comfortable Life Possible. My Dad Provided For His Family Daily. So, Yes, That Is Definitely In My Dna.

I Never, Ever Do A Film And Just Kind Of Move On. I Think Of Them As Children Of Mine, And You Don't Give Birth To A Baby And Just Leave It On Someone Else's Doorstep. You See It All The Way Through College.

I Hear God As An Audible Voice.

We Can't Afford To Deny Our Past In A Bid To Be Empowered. But What We Can Do Is Contextualize The Past.

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