Zawe Ashton Quotes

The hardest part when I decided to move into acting was trusting I'd made the right decision.

Dumb luck brought on the move from business to acting. I had moved to New York when I was 23, in the year 2000. On a lark, I went to audition for a soap opera. I thought, 'Hey, this will be a really fun story to tell my grandkids one day, that I auditioned for a soap!'

I told everyone that acting's for losers and I needed to get an education. But something kept telling me to give it one last chance. In the end, I lasted a month on the M.B.A. and then decided to quit, come back to L.A., and try again.

I looked for acting classes in Paris just to do something different than modeling. And then one day I just thought, 'Okay, that's enough, I have to start doing something.' I went to the acting agency and I just told them I wanted to act and asked them if they would give me a chance, and they did.

At a very young age, I was in Germany watching TV and I told my mom I wanted to be an actor. She said, 'Go for it.' When my dad retired from the military, we moved to Los Angeles, and it all kicked off.

A friend of mine from New York asked me what I want to do, and I responded with, 'I want to make movies.' He responded with, 'Guess what? They're not making movies on Martha's Vineyard.' Literally ten minutes later, I was packing my bags.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I figured I'm really going to make an attempt to become a real actor. And when I did that, I thought it was time for me to face my parents and tell them what I did.

A month before I booked 'This Is Us,' I was like, 'Maybe I should move to Montreal and work in a coffee shop.'

Then I was actually meant to be going home but for some reason I decided to extend for a week. Then on the final day by extension, finally an audition came through, and it was 'Into the Badlands'.

It was a very big decision when I decided to leave B. Tech to come to Mumbai. But they were always supportive. At one point, I felt I shouldn't do it. My mother encouraged me then.

I got out of grad school in 2000. I was about 26 years old. I've always said that I was late to acting because I didn't really start doing it in a focused way until I was in my early 20s.

After I graduated high school and came out to do 'Buffy,' I was enrolled at my mom's university, and I was going to go get a real job. I never thought of acting and never really wanted to be an actor.

I left advertising as fast as I could in 1961. And I haven't ever thought about going back.

When I started out I was a failed actor.

I'm very content to have great management and a great label. But for me, success started when my managers came to me and told me, 'Go ahead and quit your job.' I told them, 'As long as I don't have to wash dishes anymore, I'm good.'

I made the decision to come back to New York, quit my job and move to Paris.

Everybody gets to a stage when it's time to move on. I was bored, and the band wasn't going anywhere, so I left. I did a couple of shows on Broadway and some other things. I was busy. I just wasn't making records.

It was fun being an actor, but by the time college rolled around, I was ready to try some new things. By the time I graduated, I realized I enjoyed having a normal life and I never went back.

I went through my rebellious phase, not in my teenage years, but around age 12. The year I decided I didn't want to do entertainment anymore, I was discovered. And I couldn't back down from that.

I chose not to go home and struggle with the New York scene. My size sort of locked me out. I was too short for the stage. I would have been doing character roles, so I went to Los Angeles. There is a lot more happening out there. I also felt it was important to break away from my family.

Acting has always been a strong force in my life, but it was hard to change direction. I didn't make a paycheck for two years.

Stepping away from Fun. was both exciting and terrifying.

To leave home, it's got to be worth leaving.

I wanted to get on with my life when I was 16. I knew I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to get out of Detroit.

When I started acting I knew nothing. It was a momentous decision to pick up the flyer for the 'Trainspotting' audition. 'Destined' is a bit of a poncy word for it, but I do think I was headed in that direction.