Quotes from Ashley Walters

I have grown up being a father. When my first son was born I was 17. I was a child bringing up a child. I was not capable of understanding what a dad was meant to be.

I don't want to force anyone to give me a job. I want to be the right person for the part.

My heart truly lies in good scripts.

I would love to have a chat with Michael Jackson. For the sole purpose of seeing if he has a deep voice or not. A lot of people say he actually had a deep baritone, but then on TV he always had the high pitched squeaky voice. I would love to spend some time with him.

I'm inspired by the fact that for every kid we see committed to crime, there's kids determined to go to uni and not follow their peers.

It's down to schools to educate children about their history, especially black history.

After one brandy, I'm already slurring. I'm quite a lightweight.

My son broke his arm. I couldn't do anything, couldn't be there. That's when I knew I was a bad parent. I was doing the same thing my dad had done to me.

I worked in WH Smiths on Sloane Square and my first boss was a woman called June. My shift was half a day on Saturdays, and nine to six on Sundays. I was in and out of the place and only turned up when I wanted to.

Drake and his camp are people of their word. I've never seen them say they're going to do something and not do it.

A lot of black actors will sit there and go, 'Every role is about being a gangster' - then they get an opportunity to write a script and they write about a gangster. You know... write about a superhero.

I never wanted my kids to have the experience of not knowing me or where they came from. I never want them to wonder, 'Did he love me?' I want to be there at the pivotal moments, for them to know how proud I am of who they are becoming.

I'm not a comedy guy. I don't do comedy shows.

When I was young I wanted to be a bus driver, because my grandad was a conductor on the Routemasters.

I couldn't take that whole retail thing of being polite to people that are not being polite to you, and showing respect to people when they've got no respect for you. Retail in general is something I just can't do, unless it's my own shop.

The fact that 'Small Island' is 'period' is amazing for me because it's something that I've never been involved with before. Also, half my family is Jamaican and this story is essentially a story about Jamaican people, and it's portraying a part of history that I was not that familiar with myself.

My mum put me into the Sylvia Young Theatre School aged four, and I'd go there at weekends.

My mum was well-travelled, well-educated and made me understand from books, from my imagination and from just taking me away on holiday once a year, wherever she could, that the world was bigger than Peckham.

The strength of 'Small Island' is the fact that it deals with heavy issues in a way that is appealing to watch, and it's a story that people can relate to no matter what colour you are.

I went to a branch of the City of Westminster College in Maida Vale to do drama, sociology and English literature. I stayed for three or four months.

I come from a place where to go to prison is like a rite of passage. It's something that you gain respect for. I used to watch people come out of prison, older cousins and the like, back in the day, and be in awe of them.

Top Boy' isn't the type of programme that is trying to be righteous and have a happy ending, it is just real.

I'd love to have a farm and some space for my kids.

Growing up without a father has made fatherhood harder for me.