Ashton Sanders

“To be able to inspire somebody just by doing something that you love, just by creating your art, is something that's very near and dear to my heart.”

“I'm acting! And doing it for income! But it's for something that I love, and that's super rare.”

“We all have perceptions or boxes that we put each other in.”

“It's my job as an artist and as an actor to use this platform to make people learn and grow, to change their perspectives on how things are in whatever way I can.”

“I was bullied in elementary to middle school. It messed with my self esteem.”

“I definitely wasn't the kid playing sports. I was super different.”

“We all have to wear social masks in our daily lives to get by.”

“I didn't know that '12 Years a Slave' was being filmed at the same time we were making 'The Retrieval.'”

“We're raised to believe that black men have to be one specific way.”

“I feel like a lot of black men 'put on' because of what they see and because of what people tell them they have to be.”

“I think it's cool to be different. That's what cool is.”

“I'd say my heart is more in independents, but sometimes these major films come along that are pretty good, you know?”

“A lot of these artists are out here don't stay true to why they started doing this in the first place.”

“I think that's the most important part of doing this job, is learning different personality types. I mean, it's kind of like sociology or psychology in a sense. With that, and with every project I do, I think I'm able to pull something away that further makes me understand humanity in a way I didn't before.”

“There's so much in American history that has been hidden and shunned.”

“I bury things in the back of my mind I don't really want to deal with.”

“I wasn't like the rest of the kids. I was an artist. Living in a black society, when you're raised around a bunch of boys who plays sports and chase girls, there's this perception of masculinity that's super hard to fit into. I wasn't the stereotype of that like a lot of my peers were.”

“I want to keep doing projects that speak for people within the community and tell different types of meaningful stories.”

“I had high hopes for 'Moonlight,' just off the reaction I had while reading the script.”

“America isn't made for the black man.”