Laurence Fishburne

It's always a collective group of people coming together to oppose those things which are fundamentally contrary to our basic humanity.

It's important for a lot of young black males to value swagger over intelligence. Swagger is important, but intelligence must come before the swagger.

My vocation is I do what I do. I'm an actor; that's what I do.

It's very difficult to set a film in one setting without giving the audience some intensity and some relief.

Some characters need to be more performance-orientated; some, you have to be still.

The Fugitive Kind,' 'Rope,' 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' - I watched all these as a way of reminding myself that you can do a movie based on a play. You can do a movie that stays in one place for a long stretch.

Back in 1978, when I was still in high school, I went to see a Broadway show, 'Paul Robeson,' starring James Earl Jones. It was all about Robeson's journey as a human being, an artist, a champion of civil rights. Had I not seen the play, I might not have known who Robeson was. I was certainly never taught about him in school.

I actually had the opportunity to stand at the lectern in the Supreme Court and face the justices, which was really a powerful thing for me.

I can't imagine not coming back to the theater. It's where I started.

I see that I have, as part of my stock in trade, a very regal personality and carriage. I see that I have a kind of strength, a kind of command, and a kind of power that one would associated with a monarch.

Anytime we're talking about Thurgood Marshall, that's a good thing, I think, because it gives us an opportunity to go back, look at the history, and recognize what his contributions were.

You can't be bad when you're working with a kid. They have the instincts that all great actors have.