Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Quotes

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Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Profession : Actor

Birth : August 22, 1967

Personally, I love Toronto.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

I was always led to believe you should take care of yourself, trust in your abilities and you're the author of your own destiny.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Grassroots projects are what keep you alive as an actor.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Wale means to arrive home. So the crown has arrived home. Akin is warrior or brave man. Nuoye is a brave man of chieftaincy and Agbaje means wealth and prosperity.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

I don't really discriminate with my art. To me, it's my art, and it's to be expressed through whichever medium is there, whether it's treading the boards in the theater, on the small-screen TV, or on the large screen. I love theater, and it's definitely something I would love to do.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

By the time I was 16, I was someone to reckon with. I was so eager to repudiate any connection with any immigrant race, I would go above and beyond. I was desperate to belong to something. That was my drive as a teenager.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

With any character I do, I do my due diligence with research.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Also, I'd like to play an athlete again, while I'm still physically fit, or a musician, like Nat King Cole, because I play the trumpet and sing. I'd like to incorporate that into a character.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

The only way I know how to deliver is to focus; some people can turn it on or off - I'd rather stay in character.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

People haven't seen me in a comedic setting, but that's who I really am.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

The only way you can influence your fate is to put your soul into your performance and hope it registers with the audience.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Those films that really speak to the primal fear that we, as human beings, have about the unknown have always intrigued me. That's the really scary thing, not the slasher, macabre movies. It's the ones that deal with the inner fear: the unknown realms and the mysticisms that are scary.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

When you're a large black man in Hollywood, the obvious stereotype is one of force and menace.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Certainly, I look for different characters 'cause I always like to keep people guessing, and I also don't like to get typecast.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

I wanted to wash off the experience of Africa but obviously I couldn't because that's who I was.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

I'm here to play certain characters and give them a voice that they might not have had. That's my job, and like it or not, that's what I'm here to do.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

I'm of Nigerian descent, from the Yoruba tribe. Names are very significant in that culture. It basically states your purpose in life.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

I've been a huge fan of Quvenzhane Wallis since 'Beasts of the Southern Wild.' To me, she's our Shirley Temple, a phenomenal talent, and I wanted to work with her as soon as I saw that movie.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Multifaceted and textured characters are always more intriguing to me. You never really just want to play one note. It becomes a bit monotone and boring.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

I think that what 'Oz' did is it spawned a great generation of television production. But people know its place in television and just in great dramas. It's the foundation of my career. Most producers, show runners, directors, and casting directors put me in movies based on my performance in that show.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje