Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

When a child wants to be accepted, he'll do anything. And if it means you're getting a certain amount of notoriety from a fight, that's what you'll do.

It's a significant question: should black people only adopt black children, and white people white children?

I grew up watching 'Rambo' and 'Rocky' and all of those movies, so you have a surreal moment, even as an actor, when you're in front of these guys, whether it's DeNiro or Stallone. You have a moment like, 'Geez, that's Sylvester Stallone,' and then you have to snap out of it and get back in the pocket of the character.

To play these twisted, tormented characters is very draining. You have to sit in the pocket of that character for the duration of the shoot, which is normally an average of three months, and that can be taxing!

By the time I was 16, I was someone to reckon with. I was so eager to repudiate any connection with any immigrant race, I would go above and beyond. I was desperate to belong to something. That was my drive as a teenager.

I don't really discriminate with my art. To me, it's my art, and it's to be expressed through whichever medium is there, whether it's treading the boards in the theater, on the small-screen TV, or on the large screen. I love theater, and it's definitely something I would love to do.

I'm just looking to explore every medium to express my talent, but I think mostly it's going to be a focus on features.

I've played different nationalities, and everything from vulnerable to strong to crooked to demented. It just increases your possibilities of work because, if people know you can do just about anything, then you're going to get more offers. That's what I want to do.

I've been a huge fan of Quvenzhane Wallis since 'Beasts of the Southern Wild.' To me, she's our Shirley Temple, a phenomenal talent, and I wanted to work with her as soon as I saw that movie.

I've played many criminals, but I loved playing somebody on the right side of the law who had a family and who had ethics.