Jidenna Quotes

When I was a child, writing was the worst possible choice of a career in my family.

I went to school for economics, and especially in Asian culture it's not really a viable job for my family to be an artist.

I come from a family of lawyers. I was expected to be a professional of some sort, not an artist. I was never uplifted for my art.

My mother wanted me to be a teacher. She had this vision of me walking across the quadrangle in an Oxford college wearing my academic gown.

My mum thought my TV and film addiction was laziness. If you're an immigrant, you know you'll never be an accepted part of society, but you hope your children will be, and you try to make them essential to the community in a practical way - being a doctor or a lawyer. Acting was beyond their comprehension.

My mother wanted me to be a writer. But she was a child of the Depression and never understood that she wasn't poor. So, you know, the idea of not having a job, it would creep through. But she tried very hard to be subtle about it.

My parents would have loved it if my brother or I had become a doctor or lawyer.

My mother told me I should be a secretary, but I wanted to be an actress from when I was very young.

My dad is a bank president and my mom was an accountant and they didn't think that seeking the life of a freelance writer was very practical, you see. Of course, I was just as determined to do it.

My dad was actually against me being a photographer. He thought it was a dead-end job and that you end up doing baby pictures and weddings.

My parents always knew that I loved music. They just didn't think I'd try to make it a career. They thought I'd be a painter or an art teacher or something like that.

My dad was Chinese-American and very conservative when it came to his family's futures. He said if I wanted to have a secure job, I should go into science. So I did what Dad said and went to medical school, but the writing bug never left me.

My mother was against me being an artist. She just wanted me to marry a rich man.

Unlike my mother, who was unashamedly delighted when I decided to become an actor, I always feel that my father, had he lived longer, might have been a touch disapproving of some of my career - I think he might have tutted a bit at 'Men Behaving Badly.'

My art teacher told me I'd be suited to graphic design, but I just couldn't, because it was what my dad had done.

The reason immigrants come to America is to provide their kids with opportunities, but when they say 'opportunity,' they mean a prestigious job and career. When I had the epiphany that I could do music and sustain myself, they were like, 'OK, son, we need to talk to you.'

I was keen on dancing, and acting offers were coming in. I was ready to enter the industry, but my parents felt I had to get educated. I protested, but now, I see their logic.

When I told my father that I wanted to join the film industry, he asked me if I was sure about it, as acting is a very insecure profession. He also asked me if my reason to join the same profession like him was to have an easy road. I said no.

My mother was really against it when I said I wanted to make films. She said that I should be a civil servant because that was safe, and it had security. But my mother was always very proud of my movies and would give videocassettes of them to all the neighbours.

I told my mom for years that I wanted to be a manicurist, and she'd always be like, 'But what if you went to college and you got a degree?' She'd try to explain how I could actually do a thing that would make me a ton of money, or that I didn't have to just pick the business that was closest to our house.

I'm Greek-American, and I come from an immigrant-type background, and Greek-American parents want you to be a doctor or a lawyer. Because that's how you make money, and it's very respectable.

I grew up the son of a businessman. And I didn't get into music to be a businessman.

I think I wanted to be a doctor. In Iran, the engineering and medical professions are worshipped. My father very much wanted me to be a doctor. I was certainly eager to please as a young man - as a kid, I should say.

It's funny 'cos I think a lot about kids who grow up with their parents being really important members of their fields, and they just go the opposite way.

Growing up I didn't want to be an actor. I sort of didn't want to go into the family business; the main reason being there was something I wanted to do far more, which was be an artist.