Quotes from Corey Hawkins

It's also crazy how Shakespeare has that cadence, and it's about locking into the jazz of the language, just like locking into the rhythm in N.W.A's lyrics.

I like being a chameleon and doing things that are just so different that people will be like, 'Oh, that's him?'

Growing up, we never got to see a hero who didn't have superpowers who looked like us, that you could kind of look to and say, 'I could be that guy one day. I could be a patriot. I could be a soldier. I could work in the government and be a hero.'

I like to surprise myself. I like to surprise my fans, too.

I have members of my family who are in the military. I have friends who are in the military. Classmates who served in the military.

My mother's a police officer, so there was only so much trouble I could get myself into. But my father grew up on the other side.

I remember seeing the first episode of '24' when I was 13, and to be that face for a 13-year-old and open up that possibility, it shows you the world isn't on fire. There's possibility there.

You read things, and they come to you, and if they speak to you at the moment and there's a voice in you that says, 'I don't know, that's risky,' or 'That's challenging,' then do it. Run at it and tackle it. And if it's bad, it's bad. You're gonna get over it.

I'm a very private guy, so it's an adjustment for me, but a welcomed one, as long as the work remains the focus.

I'm so OCD about prep work and learning lines and stuff.

I think, in our darkest moments, you have to find the humor, and you have to find the lightness.

We are a diverse people, man.

We work so hard on our craft, and once we get out of Duke Ellington, there are not going to be people looking for technique. I worry about that a lot.

I feel immensely blessed - not just that I'm working, but that I'm working on projects that I really care about and like. I've always been that way.

The tension between the Capulets and the Montagues is like a gang rivalry, and that has everything to do with Compton.

In 2001, terrorism was fought in a completely different way.

When it comes to the awards and everything, and the press, the publicity, this is all icing on the cake to me.

I knew I wanted to be an artist early on, but I decided to seriously pursue the profession when I auditioned for Juilliard.

The only pressure, as an actor, is to step into Eric Carter's shoes and make him as fully and as complex and as flawed and as human as I could.

While I was filming 'Kong' - and I don't play a very capable Army Ranger in 'Kong'; I play a completely different character - but we had a lot of Army Rangers there, former Army Rangers, and Navy SEALs, who were working on the movie with us for the other characters, for the Army guys in the movie.

I didn't grow up seeing faces of patriots, emotional and raw and gritty, who looked like me.

Eric Carter is a more raw, more emotional protagonist. He's a bit of an Everyman.

I have family that are vets of the military. My grandfather served as well.

I'm not going to lie to you: I'd prefer not to go to the gym and not to run.