Quotes from Aldis Hodge

You don't ever want to seem less than a person.

I'm constantly looking for ways to learn and elevate your craft, patience for yourself, and patience for this business. It's not a fair business. You may be great, but it may take years for someone to notice what you're capable of because of politics.

You get into these executive offices, and people say, 'Oh, we have this project. Wait a minute, guys, we need diversity - let's choose a black actor for this; let's choose a Hispanic actor for this,' instead of saying, 'That's not diverse, that's just normal. That's what makes up America.'

I don't believe in breaks. Not yet. I'm too young.

This country is not built on one culture alone. We all make up this industry.

These superhero movies are starting to give more love to not only black characters but also to more female characters, which is necessary because you have boys and girls of all colors who are looking at these superheroes saying, 'I want to be that. I want to look like that. Show me somebody that I can automatically connect with.'

What is a superhero? They're supposed to represent hope, opportunity, and strength for everybody.

My approach is always the same. I try to be as honest as possible. Find the real honesty and humanity in the character because even a fictional character is supposed to feel real. And my job is to find that reality and bring it to the screen.

I was too young to live on campus. I just went back and forth on the bus. Eventually I got my own car and thought I was Mr. Man, so I started hot wheelin' it.

Regardless of the project, whenever you're working on something, the best you can hope for is to be around good people.

When I was 18, I began attending college for art and design, and I designed all sorts of things from furniture to industrial designs and even watches.

Surviving the elements is working, but being on set and having to do a scene and being in a room with the same people who you actually enjoy and respect, your day project was easy.

With contemporary music, you automatically get connected. It connects you to the emotion of the characters.

I am fortunate enough to find opportunities that have a lot of presence.

'Die Hard' was a really awesome experience, but I was too young to understand what a big film it was.

My mom told us that we should have good shoes, a good suit, and a watch, so I was running around at age 10 looking like a little old man. But somehow I grew to understand that a watch is a representation of myself, of my culture, taste, awareness and aesthetic.

We have far more options for black Americans to tell stories outside of slavery, but whenever it comes to slavery, it's an uncomfortable subject. Why? Because it's the most unresolved subject in American history.

When you say 'diversity,' the term has been denigrated over the years because it has been used as a crutch.

We owe a lot when it comes to women in terms of innovation, in terms of education, in terms of progression in life.

The introduction of Harriet Tubman is going to be very exciting, she's a real life superhero so for us to be able to feature her this season is groundbreaking for a television series.

You have a plantation where you have 10 white people and you have about 50 or 60 black people. The automatic thought was, 'Why didn't they raise up? Why didn't they overpower? They had the numbers.' But really these people, their hope was broken. Their sense of love was broken. Their appreciation for who they were was broken.

As far as playing different characters within the character, I think that's fun. Very rarely, on TV, do you get to do that on such a regular basis.

I came out of the womb drawing on everything; I used to draw on my mother's white furniture and her white walls with her red lipstick and my pencils. Little did she know that would later materialize into me doing what I do now - I'm a painter as well and a micromechanical engineer.

If men were meant to be a dominant power, men would be on this earth by themselves. So, I don't understand when women's rights are challenged - because you're talking about human rights. You talk about subjugating an entire culture that we heavily depend on for everything we need for survival.