Shameik Moore

“I'm from a neighborhood that isn't amazing - it's not the worst, either - and I was happy. But Atlanta is just one area of a country. There's a world out there I wanna touch.”

“I got my ears pierced when I was 12. I looked up to my older cousin, and he had earrings. Will Smith on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' had the left earring. So I started with the left earring, and then two years later, I got the other one pierced.”

“Pharrell's affected everyone through music. To work with someone like that - it's a gift. You ever meet somebody you can learn so much from, and all you have to do is be quiet and watch? That's what it was like. I took in how he moves, speaks, how he creates, the whole nine.”

“As I get older, I'm starting to find myself liking clean, fitted outfits, so I like a button-down. I'm seeing supermodels and what fashion is really like in real life. There's more than just Atlanta with the saggy pants.”

“30058 is the ZIP Code I grew up in in Atlanta, so the music represents where I'm from, and the mindset of '30058.' It's got a touch of reggae and a hip-hop feel. It's soothing, I think.”

“I'm not some crazy party animal. That's OK. If you say you want to be the best, you have to do what the best do - train, research, eat right, take care of yourself, and be. Don't pretend.”

“I had sent out 100 audition tapes within 365 days, and then I got the 'Dope' audition. When I sent that out, two days later my manager called me and said they wanted to fly me out to L.A. to audition.”

“I feel it's important for the geeks to have a voice. 'Dope' is going to give a lot of people a new perspective.”

“I love watching action movies. I love 007.”

“I don't like going to the movies with people that talk a lot. They want to have a conversation or something.”

“My auntie and uncle live in Inglewood, and I used to stay with them when I would come to L.A. to audition for pilot season and other things like that.”

“For, like, 98 percent of my life, I'm not nervous. But as soon as I'm nervous, I start shaking or something, and I lose my cool.”

“I'm working to be the best - the very best. There are a lot of people in this industry, and I'm trying to be the best. I'm working to affect history in a positive way.”

“I have a lot of friends who are in love the '90s. Girls, boys. '90s music? That's Tupac. That's Biggie. That's TLC. That's Aaliyah. I still listen to Aaliyah. I still listen to Tupac and Biggie. There's people who are really heavy on that culture.”

“Everything I do, I put my full heart into. I don't want to be just another actor, another singer, another artist. I want to invent history.”

“Meak's World is the world I created when I was 12, when I got into the industry. I said, 'I have to do it myself. It's not going to be given to me. It has to be Meak's World.'”