Paterson Joseph Quotes

Paterson Joseph

Profession : Actor

Birth : June 22, 1964

I expect most actors would admit to a touch of jealousy, or healthy envy, if they see fellow actors in an excellent piece of work on TV or in the theatre.

Paterson Joseph

Playing a character who will be seen as villainous will be fascinating, because a lot of the characters I have played are reasonably affable.

Paterson Joseph

The fact of the matter is that everybody, all actors who are desiring a bigger career, more choice, are all going to America. And British actors are doing well in America for the most part because we've been trained very well. They don't really have the formal drama schools that we have.

Paterson Joseph

I don't feel guilty about much.

Paterson Joseph

The black presence in our British history has sometimes wilfully, sometimes neglectfully, been whitewashed out of our national tale. This is not only deeply hurtful and enraging, but also foolish in the extreme.

Paterson Joseph

When I was 14 I was really taciturn - I hardly said a word - but then I auditioned for Shylock. With Shakespeare's words in my mouth I suddenly felt I had a lot to say.

Paterson Joseph

British theatre is marginally better at casting the actor the director wants regardless of colour, but TV has always, falsely I believe, seen itself as the arbiter of verite.

Paterson Joseph

I did Shakespeare with teenagers in Harlesden, and it transformed them. I did it with prisoners in Brixton and it inspired them to write sonnets about love, loss, time. The guy is... magical.

Paterson Joseph

History is a Pandora's box. We've opened it now, we can't pretend stuff doesn't exist.

Paterson Joseph

I mean, ethnic is a meaningless term because everybody thinks it means brown or something, but actually, we're all ethnic.

Paterson Joseph

It was the only thing I could do at school: I was rubbish at everything else but I could read aloud. It was the only thing I didn't get caned for or told I was stupid. So I've loved doing it all my life.

Paterson Joseph

You see somebody like Olivia Colman and say, 'Okay, she's really great at comedy - I wonder if she can do drama?' As an actor looking at her, you just think, 'Of course she can,' because she's got timing and lines are all about timing, and all about the truth, and all about saying it in a way that makes sense and rings true.

Paterson Joseph

When I do TV, I always look at it afterwards and realise that I'm more of a theatre actor.

Paterson Joseph

Why can I not get seen for parts in 'Emma,' 'Great Expectations,' or 'Downton Abbey?' Is it because I'm not 'the right kind of actor'? Or just the wrong colour of actor?

Paterson Joseph

I'm so keen to convey what I'm thinking and feeling, as opposed to letting the audience come to me.

Paterson Joseph

I'm from London and I had never seen the sea until I was about 15, when I went on a trip to Littlehampton.

Paterson Joseph

As an actor, I want to be in works that reflect black presence in the U.K. throughout the nation's history.

Paterson Joseph

Most scripts you need to stretch your imagination just to see what it would look like on screen; 'Neverwhere' was not like that, you picked up the script and immediately you were plunged into it.

Paterson Joseph

I'm definitely not an adrenalin junkie; I get enough of that at work. Holidays are always a matter of relaxing and spending time doing nothing. I like to eat and drink and not worry about it.

Paterson Joseph

I wasn't a bully, I wasn't horrible, but a lot of teachers just took against me. I think it was because, in the late 60s, there weren't a lot of pupils who looked like me.

Paterson Joseph