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" I love the Greeks. There's no messing around - it's all do or die with them. "

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" I don't know why women aren't allowed to have the same sort of breadth and scope and flaws of men. "

" People have always made assumptions about me. I become very territorial about my identity because it's been hijacked by so many people with their own projections. "

" When I was a kid in Ireland, there were not very many black people. I was very much like the strange brown thing, intriguing and cute. I didn't experience racism there. The first time I did was in London. It was that moment that you realize you're black. A kind of lifting of the veil. "

" You know when you're a kid and you get to pick a movie every Friday? I watched everything. There's no particular genre that was appealing. I just loved the idea that you could dress up and play. "

" People have these ideas about comic books and their adaptations as flashy and sort of surface-y, broad-strokes-type projects, but they're not, really. "

" I think a lot of actors feel like outsiders or miscreants. This profession provides an opportunity to play out all the different parts of ourselves. "

" I'm interested in the idea that we all start off as these lovely little babies with all this potential but that circumstances mean that we don't always live the life we should. "

" Often, it's easier to play someone further away from you because it's clearer who they are. I think if you want to make a performance authentic, there are a certain amount of leaps of faith into the unknown that you have to take. Otherwise, you're not really risking anything. "

" I had a very peripatetic childhood, so I bounced around. Lived in Ethiopia until I was, like, three or four and then lived between Ireland and London. "

" I don't like the term 'colour-blind' - because I don't want people to be blind to my colour. "

" My family very much adored me, and at school, I was an object of fascination. "

" Some people say to me, 'You don't sound very Irish.' It's because I have this tendency to iron out my accent: not because I'm ashamed of it but because it makes my life easier if I don't keep having to repeat myself. "

" I don't believe that directors need to essentially manipulate actors into doing things. You can suffer for your art, and you can make your own self suffer for your art. You don't need anyone else to do it for you. I work best when there's a safety trampoline of kindness. "

" The idea that you must treat actors a certain way in order to get a performance out of them kind of disturbs me, and it's disregarding what we do. Our job is to do our job. "

" The god of theater laughs in your face at planning. You can't plan as an actor; there's no way, because so much of it is dependent on other people's choices and decisions that you're at the whim of fate, really. "

" I'm all for philosophical debates about race, but if you look at history, you see that the status quo has power when it's unchallenged. So these conversations about inequality are crucial. "

" I think if you don't risk something in art, it's not really important. "

" I become very territorial about my identity because it's been hijacked by so many people with their own projections. "

" When I was little, I thought that everyone wanted to hold me as a baby because I was this thing of fascination. But rather than this thing that wasn't quite right, I just felt that my difference was something that was probably very exotic. "

" I've always been very talkative, very chatty, quite hyperactive. I grew up with a lot of cousins, and most of them were boys. Four in particular and I were the demolition squad. Havoc. "

" I have not been aggressive in my pursuit of being a star. I've never had a plan. Maybe I need to be more aggressive, because it's quite tough! "

" America has a black president, but there are no black studio heads, and there just aren't that many black people working anywhere on film sets, let alone in positions of power in Hollywood. That's what needs to change. "

" I like connecting with people, and that's what good art is: a point of connection. There's nothing better, on stage or on film. "

" There are no actions involved in 'beautiful.' It's such an inactive thing, and it's so subject to each individual's taste and appreciation. It's a lovely word, but I feel like it's been hijacked by really boring, dull people who don't understand how to use words. "

" When you label someone 'up and coming' or 'the new breakout,' there's this kind of expectation. And I think, like I said before, it's very hard to live up to that expectation when you really don't have that much power as an actor - in terms of your career path and the timing. "

" Diversity needs to operate on every level. It's great that the Oscars have highlighted it, but black actors getting nominated shouldn't be the only result. There's so much more that needs to be done. "

" I'm not in any rush to get anywhere. There's a pressure on actors to get somewhere before it's over. But everyone wants longevity, don't they? It's a career. Why be that flash-in-the-pan, taking every job out of worry it'll soon be over? "

" My job as an artist is to speak up for those who might be perceived as the losers. Or those who can't shout. No wonder public-school people always get into politics or acting: they're taught to shout that much more loudly. "

" Ninety percent of my roles, I've had to fight for. It's only a really small percentage of people who get handed roles. "

" Sometimes it's hard to play someone so similar to you, because you can muddy the character. Often, it's easier to play someone further away from you, because it's clearer who they are. "