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" What's really important is the people, first of all. I like working with people who are kind, above all else. I don't really want to work with someone who will manipulate me. 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. "

Ruth Negga

People

Performance

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

" 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. "

" 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'm shy at public speaking, which is tough. "

" My favorite film is 'All About Eve'. "

" I had quite a scattered childhood. I was Irish in London, because I had my secondary school education there. I never really fitted anywhere. I didn't feel it was a negative thing, and I was never made to feel different - I just knew I was. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I don't think I've necessarily been able to pick and choose in my career; I don't know how many people do. But I'll tell you what I've been able to do: I've been able to say no. It is the only thing you can hold on to sometimes, is that ability to say 'no.' And I think that in that way, you can create some kind of career. "

" I didn't have that many black people in my life, so I had to sort of search them out. And I didn't grow up in America, but I identified as much with their writing about the black experience as I did with their writing about the human experience. "

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

" I think it's a good thing for everybody that we see the entire world reflected back at us on our screens. "

Ruth Negga

Back

World

" 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? "

" Ireland is home. And I'd love to move home. That's always been the plan. "

" If people want to invade your privacy, they want to invade your privacy. I find it chilling, and I find it awful, and it makes me really nervous. It hasn't happened to me much, but when you have a taste of it, it's bitter. "

Ruth Negga

Find

Nervous

" I was an attention seeker, always in trouble. "

" 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 use the term 'spine' for people when I think that they may seem on the surface sort of reticent, shy, self-deprecating, shying away from the spotlight. Quiet. "

" Women always have to have this soft, maternal, sort of - I don't know - moral center. "

" History is written by the winners. My job as an artist is to speak up for those who might be perceived as the losers. Or those who can't shout. "

Ruth Negga

Speak

Artist

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

Ruth Negga

Very

School

" 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. "

" Stories about race and identity pique my interest for obvious reasons. That's in my body, my brain, my history, my memories - it's all part of my toolbox as an actor. "

" We need to have a conversation about the fact that black faces are not as visible as they should be, that there is huge inequality everywhere in terms of race. "

" 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. "

" I've met loads of black and brown and various people who are well into comics. "

" 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. "

" I was moved by the 'Lovings' story because of my own background as a mixed-race person. "

" 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. "