Quotes from Lakeith Stanfield

I was kind of a weird kid in high school. I didn't have many friends in my age group because all they wanted to do was fight and have riots.

I feel like with every performance that I see, I get better because I've always thought - while I'm watching people perform - of what I would do.

I always knew I'd be an actor. I always knew I'd at least be on a big screen somewhere.

I was born in San Bernardino in summer of '91 and grew up in Riverside, San Bernardino, and Victorville.

I've always been super expressive, and I've always liked to express myself any way I can.

I want to be in some Willy Wonka-type weird stuff, a role where I'm an alien. Anything that's new and challenging and real. I like real stuff.

My biggest strength is I'm courageous, or if I am afraid of something, I do it anyway. I do what I feel. It's nothing personal against anyone, so that courageousness has been very good to me.

That was like my safe place with great teachers where everyone could let down their guard and not feel judged. As soon as we walk outside, it was like, 'Look at these weird drama club kids.' But we all had our own agreement that we were cool in our own way.

I think prejudice has gotten to a point where a lot of people hold biases in their mind and don't even realize that they're doing it, because it's deeply ingrained in the fabric of what it means to be an American.

We used to do sock puppet shows for my auntie back in the day. Me and my friends would do accents of Englishmen, and we would sip tea and act like we were rich in front of the family, and they thought it was just hilarious, the level of perception that we had about things that we'd never experienced.

The prison industrial system, things like that are cleverly put in place to attempt to marginalize a certain group of people - and it's not only black, it's replete across the American society.

My producer, HH, makes sounds, so I'm writing to his beats.

Victorville gave me opportunity to go inside and explore my imagination a bit.

I've been fortunate to get involved with 'Short Term 12.' I was just a young teenager on the Internet, clicking on anything that had the word 'actor' in it. One day, someone called me in for a movie audition.

I really like watching myself a lot because it gives me an opportunity to see it from outside the flesh, and when I view it like that, I can be a lot more cynical and see the things that need to be attacked.

Just listening and going back and forth and exchanging ideas with people. It's a beautiful thing. This is what's really important.

I'm a little baby in a barrel just taking everything in. I'm just so fortunate to do whatever I'm doing.

I write poetry, and I put it to a beat - I mean, that's what they call rap.

Although rap is about boasting, it's also about honesty and expressing your emotions.

My focus is anything that allows me to express myself. Rap, dance, photography. Those are my forms of expression.

Music is something I do full-time in real life. I was doing music long before I was even thinking about acting.

I love 'Watch the Throne,' because Kanye was acting so ratchet.

Have you ever heard of 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?' I would like to play Sidney Poitier's role - I love that role.

You can be the most intelligent person, and you can have so much potential, but if you don't have a guide by which to channel that energy, then a lot of times, it's futile.