Everyone realized I was the innocent victim of a shakedown.

If they respect the craft and what we're doing and they bring something to the table and they work hard, I don't care what you do as your side job or as your day job.

You can say what you want to about a rapper in a movie, but look at what Ice Cube has done. Ice Cube has created more opportunities for other actors to get jobs in this business than some actors have.

It's just a matter of me opening up the page and whatever is written on the page, that's what I'm here to do.

Romeo Must Die was the first film that I did where I was able to just be free as an actor.

I ain't got nothing. I've got this watch, and these shoes, and that's about it.

I've worked with some actors who can't act.

I provide a little comic relief.

More oftentimes than not, you're automatically guilty before innocent.

I realized my family was funny, because nobody ever wanted to leave our house.

I'm not a comedian. I'm an actor who just happens to be funny on occasion.

Everyone realized I was the innocent victim of a shakedown.

Some of these guys... I've worked with Ice Cube, I think he's an immensely talented rapper and actor.

If you respect the art and you have some talent about you, I'm on your team.

Glenn Close is a living icon. You look at the work, and I think it's wild, because she thinks some of her best work was in Dangerous Liaisons and that's what I believe as well.

I've gotten my butt kicked by the best. Jet Li beat me up the best, but Steven Segal can still kick a good butt. It's a different kind of kicking, though.

I went to the High School for Performing Arts, and to Howard University on a talent scholarship.

My choices were never wrong.

There isn't a switch that I turn on. I'm an actor. This is what I do.

Be ready for when your time comes, you will have that window of opportunity, so seize the moment and capitalise on it.

Set your heights more than what you see around you, see beyond.

You say you're a comedian, you always have to be on guard.

They gave us the freedom just to play and have fun.

Tom Arnold and I, we have a huge firefight scene on top of a German tank. I get to shoot 50 caliber rounds. We shoot a helicopter out of the sky. That's the only fight I'm in.

It's sort of an action flick. You can't be that funny trying to steal diamonds.

It's a remake of a film called Inferno Affairs. It's a Hong Kong film, and if we come anywhere close to what they did in the original, we're going to have a hot property on our hands, because Inferno Affairs is a great piece.

Comedy is second nature for me.

Independent films are where you really get to cut your teeth and have some fun and do the things that mainstream Hollywood doesn't want to do.

Leo couldn't deliver Mr. Martin Scorsese his Oscar with 'The Aviator', but I will go on record to say I will do so in 'The Departed'.

Things are changing. I've been training since I was 9 years old to stretch my wings as an actor dramatically, but have never really been afforded the opportunity to show that.

My wife and I have always trusted each other, and I have to thank her strength.

You take the quote from Sam Jackson about how he'll never work with a rapper, and I can understand where he's coming from because he says rappers can't act.

I realized my family was funny because nobody ever wanted to leave our house.

There are going to be ups and downs in any relationship. It's a team.

A guy that's undersized has to prove himself right away.

The end of the surrealism movement was so political, so artistically pure.

People who care about each other enjoy doing things for one another. They don't consider it servitude.

I decided to combine my musical background, business education and creative abilities - and go into the record business.

What's happening on the outside doesn't have the power to affect what's happening on the inside, unless we allow it to.

Private sector cannot substitute the role of the government in primary education.

The accords were fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalinist dictatorship.

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.

Grandmasters decline with age. That's a given. There is nothing special about the age of 40, but age eventually takes its toll. That much is clear. Beyond that, it's about how long you can put off the effects and compensate for them. Mistakes will crop in, but you try to compensate for them with experience and hard work.

A rattlesnake that doesn't bite teaches you nothing.

My little girl, Anja, is really excited. We had a baby shower yesterday and she took the presents from everyone for me and was telling them, 'No, it's my baby.'

I dream that someday the step between my mind and my finger will no longer be needed. And that simply by blinking my eyes, I shall make pictures. Then, I think, I shall really have become a photographer.

I don't think women hold all the answers, but with their skills, their strengths, we can get to a better place.

I like cartoons. I like 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.' It's funny! It has things that kids wouldn't get. It's like, if you're mature, you get it. I like that and 'The Fairly OddParents.'

It was writing about music for NPR - connecting with music fans and experiencing a sense of community - that made me want to write songs again. I began to feel I was in my head too much about music, too analytical.