Sterling K. Brown

“I think I'll never stop doing theater because it's a more physical and athletic activity. You can't pull any punches; there are no short cuts, and you have to be physically present and committed. I love the excitement and the response of being in front of a live audience.”

“You got to let the people know while they're here how much they're appreciated and how much you love them.”

“I just try to do something to sweat at least an hour a day.”

“As a kid growing up St. Louis, Missouri, I lived in a predominantly black neighborhood. Any time people talked about slavery, it was always something like, 'If I was a slave, I wouldn't have been putting up with that. I would have been out in a heartbeat.' And it's like, sure, it's a very easy thing to say.”

“Every time I'd do a play, my grades would get better because I was doing something that fed my soul. It took me a couple of years to recognize that the hobby was actually the calling.”

“I've always told my wife, 'Anytime I have an opportunity to be on something that I would watch even if I wasn't on it, that's when I get really, really giddy.'”

“Whether the theater is 1,000 seats or 500 seats or 200 seats, you have to make sure the person in the back of the theater can hear you and understand you. So there's a lot of articulation and a lot of voice in theater that really just isn't necessary when it comes to dealing with the camera.”

“Always have an attitude of gratitude.”

“I'm a little kid from St. Louis, Missouri, on the inside.”

“There's something frightening that comes with freedom. And there was something very frightening for a lot of slaves once they were free and were going through Reconstruction. It was like, what do you do now? There was nothing set up.”

“I catch myself every once in a while doing that weird thing that I see famous people do, where they have sunglasses and hats on and grow out beards thinking that they're fooling people. Dude, you're not fooling anyone: you look just like you.”

“I can't wait to see little white kids dressing up as Black Panther.”

“I don't want to be a flash in the pan. I don't want people to just remember me for one thing.”

“The first trip I can remember would have to be to Marianna, Arkansas. My mother's parents are from there, and we'd go every year to visit the church where they were buried. We'd attend church service that day, put flowers around their tombstones, and visit with family and friends that still lived there.”

“My first series regular was on a TV show called 'Starved,' which was so many years ago, and I was the only guy they brought in. So I go in, I read, it goes well. The next day I hear I got the job, and I rejoiced.”

“I love basketball because it's social, and you're not even thinking about working out - you're just playing a game and getting great exercise at the same time.”

“We're all trying to figure out what's next, what's best for our families, what's best for ourselves, and there's a certain sort of comfort in knowing that you're not in it by yourself.”

“I've had people come stand in front of the treadmill and wait for me to acknowledge their presence so they can speak.”

“I never assume people are going to recognize me.”

“M. Night Shyamalan can draw quite a few people to quite a few things, and having the opportunity to work with him is very cool.”