Quotes from Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

As an actor, you just like to be able to play as much range. I just want to be invisible. I want to be able to be perceived as an artist as opposed to 'a black actor': that's the joy.

It's wonderful to do these great blockbusters and bigger pictures, but my heart is always with true stories.

You really have to act your pants off to stay alive. I thrive on that; I rise to the occasion of the circumstances.

I don't really look at genre. I mean, sometimes you might be playing heavies a lot, and you're like, 'Hey, it'd be nice to do a romantic comedy.'

David Ayer is known for being a very serious filmmaker, but he has a very great sense of humor.

I was always led to believe you should take care of yourself, trust in your abilities and you're the author of your own destiny.

Personally, I love Toronto.

With any character I do, I do my due diligence with research.

I'm from Europe, England, and I actually lived in Italy.

Also, I'd like to play an athlete again, while I'm still physically fit, or a musician, like Nat King Cole, because I play the trumpet and sing. I'd like to incorporate that into a character.

I've never been really great at trusting anybody, just because of the way I grew up.

The only way I know how to deliver is to focus; some people can turn it on or off - I'd rather stay in character.

I've played many criminals, but I loved playing somebody on the right side of the law who had a family and who had ethics.

I don't really discriminate with my art. To me, it's my art, and it's to be expressed through whichever medium is there, whether it's treading the boards in the theater, on the small-screen TV, or on the large screen. I love theater, and it's definitely something I would love to do.

I remember when I first came to America, nobody had a clue what a black Englishman was. I was either South African or Australian to them.

To play these twisted, tormented characters is very draining. You have to sit in the pocket of that character for the duration of the shoot, which is normally an average of three months, and that can be taxing!

I'm very much the type of actor that once I embody the character, I could stay in it from the beginning to the end.

Certainly, I look for different characters 'cause I always like to keep people guessing, and I also don't like to get typecast.

Those films that really speak to the primal fear that we, as human beings, have about the unknown have always intrigued me. That's the really scary thing, not the slasher, macabre movies. It's the ones that deal with the inner fear: the unknown realms and the mysticisms that are scary.

When you're a large black man in Hollywood, the obvious stereotype is one of force and menace.

Multifaceted and textured characters are always more intriguing to me. You never really just want to play one note. It becomes a bit monotone and boring.

When a child wants to be accepted, he'll do anything. And if it means you're getting a certain amount of notoriety from a fight, that's what you'll do.