Ruth Negga Quotes

Russians call me German, Germans call me Russian, Jews call me a Christian, Christians a Jew.

There were a lot of kids from Puerto Rico at my high school in Florida; people always assumed I was Puerto Rican. Even now in California, I get talked to on the street in Spanish constantly!

In Mexico they think I'm Mexican. In Italy they think I'm Italian.

I'm from L.A., but everyone thinks that I'm British.

I'm three quarters Scottish, but I sound English. I don't really see British as a race.

Everyone still thinks I'm Scottish - that's totally wicked.

Coming in and out of Hollywood for pilot season, I may have to thicken my accent or hear that, physically, I'm not Latino. I not only am, but there's another 50,000 people who look exactly like me.

People don't really assume that I'm Filipino. Of course, they're gonna think, 'Oh, are you some sort of Hispanic?' and you say, 'No, I'm actually not.' I get Korean or Chinese a lot.

I do have a Mexican accent, but that doesn't mean that I'm a Latin vamp.

My husband is actually Italian-American, and he thought I was Italian when he first met me.

People do think I'm Jewish. But we're Irish Catholic. My father had a brogue.

Sometimes I have a very fleeting emotional dance with a fleeting phrase, like 'half-Mexican.'

Just because we have exotic last names or darker faces, our politics are assumed to be radical. But that is simply not the case.

I am neither a Serb nor a Bulgarian, I am a South Slav.

I actually spoke to one of the heads of a studio, and he said I confuse middle America. Basically, when they see a black person, they see athlete, they see rapper, or they see criminal or something like that. And then when they hear a British accent, they hear posh, so they hear lawyer or doctor.

People ask me where I'm from. I say Ireland, and they are like 'Really? You don't look Irish.' Then you have to explain... people are intrigued, but sometimes you think, 'Why do I have to tell my whole story every time I open my mouth?

When you are in America, at least for me, as an immigrant, I try to be as Americanized as I could. I just want to be an actor, I don't just want to be an Asian actor necessarily.

If I go to England, they know I'm not an Englishman, but most Americans think I'm English.

I'm not a massive reader of online comments but I come across the odd comment where people still question if I'm English. I find that so silly.

Whether it was a shoe store or working the front desk of a hotel, I was always interacting with people. I'd get that look because I'm half-white and half-Filipino. They could tell I was something, but they really couldn't tell what I was.

A lot of stuff has been said about me. People said I was a Malayali because I have Shivan in my name just like Santhosh Sivan does. But I'm a Tamilian.

Since I worked with Prince, people assumed that I was black.

I have blonde hair and blue eyes, and whenever I tell people I'm Greek, they don't believe me.

I never tried to emulate that New York rap style. What I do is a quasi rap. It's a honky rap, not a black rap. I find it puzzling that so many people have assumed I'm black.

I've gone into auditions and I think they have an assumption about me when they see my photo and then I open my mouth and they say, 'Where exactly are you from? And you were born in Ethiopia? But you're Irish, but you also kind of sound English. That's really strange.' They want to put you in a box in LA, that's how they tend to do it there, so if you don't fit in that box, it makes it more difficult.