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" When you see my performances, even people that you might have known, like Nicky Barnes in 'American Gangster,' you have to get over the fact that I look like Cuba Gooding, Jr. But once you find truth in the performance, if I'm doing my job right, you believe everything. "

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

People

Truth

American

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" I feel I'm a hammer to the construction worker that is the filmmaker. "

" The Academy Awards was an amazing night. I know I kind of lost my mind a little bit. I apologize for that. That night went so fast; I can't remember what I said or what happened. "

" I understand it all. I can write my own ticket for one or two movies. But if they're not the right ones, my ticket gets yanked. I understand that's how it works, and I'm okay with it. "

" I think all my characters haunt me. Especially the real-life ones, like Master Chief Carl Brashear, the Tuskagee Airmen. Every time I see a military person, it gives me such a sense of pride but also a sense of responsibility to project excellence when representing them. "

" I have never made a decision based on race and never will. "

" There's a lack of diversity amongst executives in the position of greenlighting a film who feel that their stories are being told. If there's a diversity at the executive level, then we'll have diversity of the storytelling process. "

" The hardest part was when I was in high school not having a job and always being broke. I had to get to auditions without a car. I either took the bus or walked. "

" I worked so much when my first son was born that I missed a lot. "

" It wears on your soul when you take on the mental state of a dark character. "

" When I started in the business, you did television, and then when you got lucky, you got a prestige project of a film. "

" My wife and I have been together since 1986. I graduated in '86 and she graduated in '88. We began dating when she was 17. Actually she turned 18 when we started kissing and stuff. "

" Before I was an actor I was a break dancer, one of those street performers you see. I guess my introduction into the professional world of performing was a stint as back up dancer for Lionel Richie and I performed at the closing ceremony at the '84 Olympics. "

" I think police officers are modern day heroes. I think they protect us. "

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Day

Heroes

" It took me a month to get out of the mindset of O.J. But even now, still, I think it might have done something to my vocal chords. I went to see the doctor, and he was like, 'I don't see anything. You're fine.' But mentally, I might have broke a little bit. "

" As an actor you have to bring to the table your creative input. But when a director like Ridley Scott says I want you to do this this way, you know when he gets to the editing room he has a reason for it. It's like watching a masterpiece. "

" When I won the Oscar, I fell into that mind-set that this is a precious role. People everywhere were shouting, 'Show me the money!' I just didn't want anything that could parody the fact that I was like a tagline in a movie. So when Steven Spielberg offered me 'Amistad,' I said no; when 'Hotel Rwanda' came along, I said no. "

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Hotel

Said

" I am admiring of my fellow peers, black filmmakers and black actors and actresses. "

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Peers

I Am

" At one point, I was greenlighting films and scripts that shouldn't have been made based on the fact that they had that stamp of approval of an Academy Award winner. And the good news is I got to learn the real process of filmmaking - directing, storyboarding, writing. "

" I was in the wilderness of Hollywood for almost ten years. I was off the studio lists. I wasn't getting the roles offered to actors that hadn't done a third of the roles I had done or had the popularity I had. "

" There are roles I want that my agency might not want me to do because of the subject matter or whatever. Or there are roles that people won't bring to me because they don't think I'll do it. And that is a big strain because an actor wants to act. "

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Want

People

" Don't let people disrespect you. My mom says don't open the door to the devil. Surround yourself with positive people. "

" I'm not a prude. On the set, they called me 'Butt Naked.' "

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Set

Naked

" Jonathan Lynn is one of the last actors Orsen Welles used in a production. It was wonderful. He's very sharp, very sharp. It's funny I've been asked how weird it was to have a Brit do a church gospel movie. "

" Our job as artists is to reflect the ills of society sometimes and to find a truth in that, and I think you can't start the healing process until you recognize the truth and all of its ugly warts and all. "

" It's the director's job to piece together my performance, his interpretation of my takes, each take, and string them together and make a statement. I'm red paint on a canvas for a painter. "

" The truth is, you don't ever decide on a role, not when you first begin. You audition for the role, and you're lucky to get it. "

" If I told you I was a Republican and you were a Democrat, no matter what I said after that, it would be tempered with your opinions. "

" When you're watching a movie and find yourself getting emotional, it's because you're bringing something personal to the images. It's the same thing with acting. You're bringing the essence of your core emotional being to that moment. "

" I remember when Heath Ledger talked about playing the Joker... I always used to look out of the side of my eye, going, 'Yeah, actors.' But there really is a darkness when you are playing someone psychotic - you have to go there mentally. "

" The roles that I always get attracted to are roles where the material is based on an actual person. "