Aldis Hodge

“With contemporary music, you automatically get connected. It connects you to the emotion of the characters.”

“This country is not built on one culture alone. We all make up this industry.”

“I don't understand actors who complain when they get work. 'I'm working too much. I've got to get up too early ...' Isn't this the point? There's somebody right now who's bussing tables who would love your problems.”

“When you do learn these things, when you understand what inclusion is, then we can accomplish greater things together.”

“A new setting is amazing cause it's new for the team, and it's new for our characters. It's a breakaway from the normal deal. You get so tired, locked into a show for so many years. You get used to doing the same thing. A little shake-up and change is good.”

“I think enslavement has evolved to what may seem appropriate to this day's generation. Modern enslavement is imprisonment.”

“There's a really great documentary called 'Many Rivers,' which documents the totality of slavery from its inception, and then it gives you a little history on how America came to prominence. It's crazy - the first black man to actually step foot in America came as a free man, as an explorer, with the Spaniards.”

“I hear all the time from our audience about how it's nice to see a positive African-American role model for the younger kids out there that are watching.”

“I am fortunate enough to find opportunities that have a lot of presence.”

“My approach is always the same. I try to be as honest as possible. Find the real honesty and humanity in the character because even a fictional character is supposed to feel real. And my job is to find that reality and bring it to the screen.”

“I feel Noah has been alone for the majority of his life and inherently searching for a family, even though he may not express that outwardly. But his encounter with Rosalee gave him hope in finding someone who thinks like him.”

“Surviving the elements is working, but being on set and having to do a scene and being in a room with the same people who you actually enjoy and respect, your day project was easy.”

“You can't just look like one culture and expect to inspire a multitude of people. That doesn't work over time. Everybody wants somebody to look up to that looks like them so they can truly believe in that reality for themselves.”

“I think that my humble beginnings were very deliberate, and I'm grateful for them because I'm not sure I would see my achievements the same way if they were handed to me. I'm not sure my work ethic would be the same.”

“I can literally count on one hand how many slave stories have gotten notoriety over the past few years.”

“As far as playing different characters within the character, I think that's fun. Very rarely, on TV, do you get to do that on such a regular basis.”

“As an actor, it's very rare that you get a choice in a matter. But you're always looking for something that has some gravitas.”

“For me personally, the way I've been trained, just through life experience - the harder something is, the harder you have to work for it, the more worthwhile it is, and you just have to know that going in.”

“My standard for the women in my life is like, 'If no man can treat you better than I can treat you, they can't come.' You gotta step up to the plate. With respect, with acknowledgment, with support.”

“I've always known I wanted to be in design somehow. It was going to be architecture, but I would've had to quit acting for it. I realized with horology, I could learn at my own pace.”