Quotes from Ashley Walters

Acting is something I feel good about doing, I'm lucky enough to love my job as well.

Whatever I want, the next car or the next house, I stick a picture of it to the back of my door, so I can look at it first thing in the morning and dream it into existence.

When I was young, I would go to youth clubs after school, run by my teachers and there were places to go where you could talk things out or enjoy sport with kids from different areas so territorial barriers were broken down.

I gave up acting while I just pursued my music career.

My mum's been my backbone, my inspiration, and the person who's pushed me in my career.

My father passed away in 2005, and day after, I sat in my flat in Woolwich on my bed, and I feel that I saw him.

I was driving along and I got a random call on my way to my mother in law's for dinner and it was Drake. He wanted to help and he said he'd do anything to get 'Top Boy' back on screens and then got a call from Netflix, who wanted to do the show. For U.K. culture, it's a huge thing.

Some days it seems I've done as much as I can here and I think I'll go and try my luck in America. But then a call comes from the Globe theatre. They want me for King Lear, playing Edmund.

You're not gonna see me in 'Downton Abbey,' but culture is changing.

I had an inkling that I was going to prison before I actually did, because I'd witnessed my father and my elders going through it. It seemed like that's the way that you got respect, which is a sad thing.

I woke up one day and there were loads of calls on my phone. My best friend was like: bro, go to Drake's Instagram. So I went and saw my big head on there, a picture and a caption or whatever, and it was 'Top Boy' related. Long story short: we got in contact and had a few conversations about him being a big fan of the show.

I loved English and I tell kids that without English I wouldn't be able to rap.

It was tough: I had to kiss a man, and I got a mixed reaction from the black community. But I have to be ready to play any role, or I can't call myself an actor.

I used to eat under my grandmother's dining room table. I wouldn't eat at the table ever until I was about 10.

Using a gun is a coward's way to hurt someone.

I heard stories about my dad. I wondered why he never protected me. I loved the man and I have still not got over the fact he wasn't there for me.

Politics isn't about helping people, it's about maintaining whatever people have got, whatever it takes to maintain their position at the expense of us.

My dad had a real big reputation as being the hard man, street fighter, the gangster. My stepdad was quite timid, and I wanted a bit of the gangster in my life.

I don't have friends, to be honest.

I'm not a fan of social media, to be honest.

This game is full of rejection. As an actor, you are being told 'No' an awful lot of the time. You have to keep getting up and carrying on to get to where you want to go.

When it comes to friends, as in people to relax with, that's my wife and my kids.

Once you've been at the top, you're always gonna know what it's like to be at the top. If you've never been at the top, you're not worrying about what it feels like being there.

To be honest, there is going to be no 'Top Boy America.'