Ruth Negga Quotes

I think I'm a character actress in a leading lady's body, but the industry doesn't really see me that way.

The 'boy next door' parts I get offered, I don't find interesting.

I understand that, being born with a certain face, people want to see me in certain roles. But one needs to break that image by doing different kinds of films.

I tend to play characters that aren't supposed to black or written black.

I think that sometimes when they see me in a movie they expect me to be something nasty. I mean, I play a lot of villains and you show up and they think maybe... That's why it's good to defy expectations sometimes.

The thing is, I want to play real characters and not all girls can be pretty. The thing is, you get these girls who say 'I'm a character actor' then you see them in a role and nothing has really changed but the outfit.

I don't want to play only Latin women. I want to have roles in English.

I'm content to stand on tradition. I'm even more content to wipe my feet on it.

I get people being frightened of me. One time I did this photo shoot where I had hairy armpits - I was really digging it, but they were like, 'We'll airbrush that out.'

I use every opportunity, whether on my radio show or on television, to break stereotypes.

Becoming a model was very counter-culture for my background, which is hyper-liberal, academic and feminist.

I feel that a lot of roles in television can really typecast someone as one type of actor or playing one type of role, but I really don't think that my role in 'Weeds' did at all.

I was happy she got it and I have to sort of - and one of the reasons I did Third Watch is because I wanted to break that thing of just being the pretty girl and play it down and let it be about the work.

At first I was always cast as the girlfriend. It was a long time before I got to play characters who were people.

I do love playing aristocrats, probably because it's so against type. So much more interesting than playing a version of yourself.

I would like to do more dramas when I find a good role that will allow me to politely upset people's expectations of me as a comic actor.

What I will not do is continue to perpetuate stereotypes. I'm the daughter of a maid; why do I have to also play a maid? My mom was a maid so I didn't have to be a maid.

What's hardest for me to swallow is when there is a love story, say, with a really high-profile male star and there's no reason I can't play the part. They say, 'Oh, we love Halle, we just don't want to go black with this part.'

I'd go for roles that would say 'for all ethnicities,' but what they're pretty much saying is, 'We want a Caucasian guy or a black guy.' One or the other.

In America, I am brown; I'm 'of colour', so I would be offered Latin roles, and I've fought against that. I don't want to be put in a category, to be just offered the same sort of thing. For me, it's all about different roles, telling the stories of the great writers.

I can be a lady - surprise!

Usually, I'll be auditioning for the third lead, and there will be Latina actresses, Indian actresses, African American actresses because it will be like, 'Let's check off this box. We have our lead white girl, and we need an ethnic slot.'

I'm stunned that people keep asking me to play characters I didn't expect to play.

Turkish onlookers were startled by this costume, which no other woman in Turkey would have dared to adopt.

I've been fortunate in my career, but, yes, there have been many times when I have been told my audition has been cancelled because they're only going to see white people.