Mahershala Ali Quotes

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Mahershala Ali

Profession : Actor

Birth : February 16, 1974

I've been working almost 20 years, and I think I've worked with maybe one black director of photography in that time. Maybe two women directors or DPs. Maybe. And I've done a lot of TV. That's a lot of people I've worked with.

Mahershala Ali

I'd never been around or seen a black showrunner, and in some ways you wish that it wasn't a big deal.

Mahershala Ali

There are so many women who contributed in a very real way in pushing for the space program during the time in which there was a lot of competition to get into space first, and to know that there were African-American women who were integral in that success is pretty phenomenal.

Mahershala Ali

I was supremely fortunate to do several projects that I'm really excited about. So within all that, there's a lot going on this year. I'm excited about 2016.

Mahershala Ali

'Free State of Jones' went beyond that. It got into how the South wasn't as homogenous as we thought it was - or even the North for that matter, where we like to assume everyone wanted to free the slaves and they were all abolitionists. It actually shows how complex these ideologies were on both sides.

Mahershala Ali

Now, being one who lived in the era of Obama, there are so many markers of improvement made. It's hard to be mindful of that, in the same way you're going, 'Oh everything's cool now!' and it isn't. But I try to be mindful of how much of an improvement there has been because that gives hope. You need hope. I need hope!

Mahershala Ali

When I was growing up, I was told you could be anything you want to be, but I didn't really believe that because you couldn't be president. Like, I knew that; we never had a black president.

Mahershala Ali

Kids feel like they have to puff up or shrink. These reclusive qualities begin to develop because you feel that who you are is going to either be accepted or rejected by your family and friends.

Mahershala Ali

The things that people won't totally accept come in all shapes and sizes and forms, and I can relate to that in my own youth.

Mahershala Ali

I know someone from growing up who is in jail right now for the rest of his life, but he was one of the sweetest people I ever knew.

Mahershala Ali

People do bad things, but that doesn't mean they don't have other colors or qualities.

Mahershala Ali

I approach things from my feeling first. I have to get a feel for the character. I'll do that through music; I'll do it through what is naturally popping up for me when I read the script. My ideas or whatever the occupation of the character might be.

Mahershala Ali

There's this Method Man album called 'Tical.' It's his first album. I would just listen to that every day, because the album feels like, if it were a film, it would be black and white. It feels like there's a war percolating throughout the album itself. It's dark, and it has a nice forward pace to it.

Mahershala Ali

I always felt that Jay Z, if he had a different upbringing, could be on Wall Street or in politics. If you really listen to Jay Z talk, he's kind of the smartest guy in the room.

Mahershala Ali

I saw this documentary he did years ago called 'Fade to Black.' I was always a Jay Z fan - I liked Jay Z - but after I saw that documentary, I loved Jay Z. I realized how intelligent he was.

Mahershala Ali

Family are the people that can hurt you the most.

Mahershala Ali

People will burn through a show in two or three days, and then you're left feeling empty for 51 weeks.

Mahershala Ali

I thought, 'I've been doing this for 16 years professionally. I have a window where I want to play leading parts.'

Mahershala Ali

Coming off 'House of Cards,' playing someone so straight-laced, I was getting offered a lot of F.B.I. agents.

Mahershala Ali

You can't watch 'Daredevil' or 'Jessica Jones' or the Marvel films and not be aware that the villain has to be awesome. I've always wanted to have more space. And the scope, morally, is more broad for the villain than the hero.

Mahershala Ali