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" I never got picked for the athletics team for about three years. I was in my third year, and I really wanted to join, and I kept basically knocking on the door of the PE coach. 'Can I join? Can I join?' He's like, 'No... No.' And then one day, he's like, 'Okay, you want to race? Cool. We have a free spot for you. You're gonna be doing the 400.' "

Malachi Kirby

Team

Day

" I don't think I've ever spoken to anyone who's told me that the story of 'Roots' isn't important. "

Malachi Kirby

Important

Ever

" When I was in school, my first acknowledgement of 'Roots' was Kunta Kinte. "

" I haven't experienced a lot of prejudice in my life, but I'm not naive to what goes on in the world. "

" My dad passed when I was 6. I found out when I was about 21 that my dad always said acting would be the making of me. Where he got that from, I have no idea. "

" 'Roots' focuses on a particular group of people who defy the odds and win, eventually, even if it isn't in their lifetimes. This is, for me, a very positive story and a very empowering one, if only we have that perspective on it. "

Malachi Kirby

Roots

People

" My roots go back to West Africa, but my last name is Kirby, which is not an African name. "

" When I heard that 'Roots' was being remade, my first response was, 'Seriously?' I was a bit skeptical. Then I had an audition in early 2015. I didn't know how to feel about it. I was a little scared of the responsibility of telling the story again with the weight of the first one behind me - I was scared of comparisons. "

Malachi Kirby

Story

Know

" Playing Kunta Kinte is an emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental journey. "

" I found that there were things that God could reveal to me that I could never get myself physically. "

" Kunta Kinte is the closest thing I've ever seen... to a superhero. He's amazing. He's inspirational. "

" My knowledge of my ancestry, like a lot of black people not living in Africa today, is very vague. "

" There are stories I wanted to tell, and they are not defined by what I look like. "

Malachi Kirby

Look

Tell

" I was taught about slavery, but it was the ancient Egyptians. That's the closest I got to African history. "

" One of the biggest things that I took from playing Kunta Kinte was where his strength came from in knowing where he was from. "

Malachi Kirby

Things

Strength

" At first, I had this huge desire to play a superhero, that little kid in me. Then I realized it wasn't actually a superhero I wanted to play: it was someone fighting for a cause that's bigger than themselves, which can go into all sorts of things. "

Malachi Kirby

Kid

Desire

" I was the shiest person you could think of. I didn't really speak. I was an only child, so most of my life I spent in my bedroom playing with toys by myself, speaking through them. "

" You're always going to have typecasting, especially with TV. "

" If you're good enough to play a role with emotion and universal human elements, then you'll get others coming to you. "

" Kunta Kinte's strength derives from the knowledge of where he comes from, but it struck me that I don't know where I come from. I understand that my last name is Kirby, that I was born in London, third-generation Jamaican, and at some point along the line, that name was changed. I didn't know my history past my grandparents. "

" Schoolkids - black and white - would call me Kunta Kinte as a cuss. If ever my hair was particularly messy, if ever I looked scruffy at school, I would be called Kunta Kinte. My first impression was that it was bad to be African and bad to be associated with him. "

" I was thinking, 'What is it about Kunta Kinte that allowed him to live such a long life?' For me, what came down to it was his spirit and his knowledge of self. "

" I was 22 when my mother gave me the original box set of 'Roots' and she said, 'I want you to watch this.' I watched the whole thing back to back in the span of 24 hours. It had a profound effect on me. It felt like my story. "

Malachi Kirby

Story

You

" I believe it's important to have equal opportunities as a black actor. My way of fighting for it is through my art, by not accepting that there are roles that aren't for me. "