MALIK YOBA

My father kicked me out of the house by the time I was 16.

For me, I've always been an entrepreneur.

It's very rare that Black actors get an opportunity to do period pieces and to have a breadth of characters to choose from in their work.

As a black man, you learn at an early age the police are not your friends.

I made some money, some real money on my first real estate transaction.

If you tell yourself you can't, you're right.

As I kid I watched 'Star Trek' and 'Battlestar Galactica.'

I'm happy with getting older and getting more focused. I thought I was focused when I was young, but you're only as focused as experience will allow you to be.

I've never been the actor that's waiting for a job. I always have 15,000 other things going on.

I'm a dad; I started a program for young men when my first child was born.

At the end of the day, if you are an actor, you definitely know that you're just work-for-hire.

I knew that I wanted to create a restaurant like Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood that celebrated not just music or Hollywood, but who we were as people of color, as Caribbean, African, Cajun and Southern people.

I fear no one.

I'm a rabble rouser, man!

People think that it's ok to degenerate and disrespect someone just because they're in the public eye.

We didn't even have a T.V. in my house until I was 13. My dad called it the 'idiot box.'

Don't think because I'm a positive dude, I'm going to always say something nice. If you come at me crooked, one too many times or if too many people came at me crooked too many times in a row, then they're going to get it. I don't always exercise that self control and I don't regret it either.

Sometimes you have producers tell you 'I'm a huge fan, I'm a huge fan.' But David Guggenheim, I have so much love for this dude.

I personally don't prefer acting and directing in something because I don't have the same objectivity.

I've always had a lot of gay friends; transgender friends.

A lot of the shows I have done, I'm often the only black guy and I have often had to play second or third fiddle. It isn't necessarily a bad thing if it is a strong ensemble cast. But I feel people have overlooked my abilities.

It's always nice when you see an email in your inbox that says 'offer,' then you read the email and go, 'Oh, okay. Who's doing it, what's it about?'

Most people haven't figured out when you are of service to other people outside of just yourself, the doorway for opportunity and blessings come in a very very different way.

Fred Bumaye shows great promise as a young filmmaker with a passion for story and the cinematic language.

I've played lots of law enforcement agents, and I do have friends that are in the bureau, in the DEA, and who are detectives and captains.