Winston Duke

“I need to not be typecast as big, black, and dumb but be seen as an intelligent, witty, bold, and charismatic person.”

“I grew up with comic books, and I'm from the Caribbean, so comic books were really a great interrogator of American culture for me.”

“Knowing that your sense of fashion and the culture it's connected to is valid really makes it a stronger thing for you.”

“I was a big comic, cartoon, animation nerd.”

“It's only until we confront the darkness of our past that we can responsibly move forward.”

“What is your duty to a country? Do you follow it blindly? Or do you challenge your country to be better and stand up to the ideals that all men are created equal and everyone deserves equity, not just equality?”

“My agents love pranking me.”

“I feel I'm following my path. I'm living my truth, and my path is storytelling.”

“Growing up, I was raised by a single mother.”

“The panther is sleek. The panther is sneaky. The panther is covert. Meanwhile, the gorilla will show up and bang on his chest and make noises to warn you about what is about to happen if you continue to cross the line.”

“I would love more stories with strong characters of color who don't always fit the mold that Hollywood has created in the past.”

“My favorite play that I did was at Yale. It's called 'The Island.'”

“Even being part of a world like 'Black Panther,' that is gonna be something that's deeply commercial, it still is about a narrative of people who are unseen, unheard, and unrepresented, you know?”

“I like to go into things, and I like to make the most bold choice to tell the particular story being told.”

“All I can tell you is 'Black Panther' sets up the MCU to go in a really wonderful new direction, sets up a new language, a new world for the MCU to play in, and that construction is then rocked to its core when Thanos enters in 'Infinity War' - get ready.”

“A tall, broad-shouldered man with dark skin and a gap tooth - I wasn't the image of 'old Hollywood beauty.'”

“There would always be scripts that came along that I turned down, like Gang Member #5 - roles that were just stereotypes.”

“I've always had this dream that if people could pay me to watch and review old episodes of 'The Golden Girls,' that would be something really special.”

“I was seeing people of color growing up in my media. I was seeing them in positions of power.”

“We moved to Brooklyn when I was about 9 or 10, and from Brooklyn we moved to Rochester in New York. I went to high school in Rochester in New York.”