I'm only a stupid filmmaker.
I was in television drama, which is a first cousin to the movies, and I trust myself to make the right decisions.
If I hadn't gone into acting, then I would have perhaps become an animator.
Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic design now, what used to be called commercial art.
Music is a male-dominated field.
At the end of the '60s, I was trying to enter the world of comics.
A lot of times, you feel like you're walking on eggshells in a creative environment, because everyone's having to watch out for egos so much of the time.
I'm an actor more than anything else.
I'm an artist. And usually when I tell people I'm an artist, they just look at me and say, 'Do you paint?' or 'What kind of medium do you work in?'
Most theatre people and composers are like research hounds.
Writing is a private discipline, in a field of companions.
I've directed independent film.
I think people face that in any artistic field, this idea of: oh, I could do that, if I had the time.
I'm an experimental artist in a field that doesn't celebrate experimentation. It celebrates self-destruction, which I guess you could say is a creative endeavor.
My friends are not in the industry - they're young artists or knitwear designers or whatever.
Flattery and criticism are always in our profession.
Even going to college, getting my degree in Radio TV and Film, as I was approaching the time when you have to decide on a major, I kept trying to figure out what would be the best major to enhance what I am doing as a performer.
I gravitated towards the field of clothing design, partly because it is a creative format that is modern and optimistic.
I just tried to be an artist in my own metier.
There are so many amazing out, gay, black artists who are really great in their own fields, but they aren't necessarily trying to make pop music. I guess my thing is different because I am trying to be part of that world. But doing it my way.
I don't really consider myself a model, to be honest. I respect designers; I think it's another art, you know.
My girlfriend's a costume designer in the theater.
No offense to real jobs, but comics seemed a lot more fun.
I do read a lot of autobiographies and biographies but from people who are not in my field - older women, older artists, Miles Davis.
I don't meet stockbrokers or carpenters or coal miners; I spend all day with actors, composers and photographers.
