Let’s just say I like acting, but not necessarily all the stuff that comes with it.
I remember coming back to the U.K. after spending five months in Charlotte for ‘Homeland,’ and I just found myself just wandering around London. There’s nothing like it – the buildings, the architecture, the sense of history, the sense of culture – there really is nothing like it.
We live on a planet of limited resources – an abstract notion for some of the world’s population, but for many of the poorest and most vulnerable, those limits are all too real.
I do know in the 1960s comics, Martian Manhunter took on the form of a black man – that could have been influenced by the political climate back then.
I have always been reasonably anonymous, but I suppose that has gone with the success of ‘Homeland.’ I feel a lot more visible, which is good and bad. Good because I am getting recognition, but I am slightly apprehensive because I always enjoyed my anonymity.
As soon as you become of interest to the media, the charity requests start rolling in, and it’s not easy saying no. But if you endorse every charity that asks you, you’re not really endorsing any of them. It has to mean something.
We don’t like talking about race in the U.K. – it’s a very sensitive subject. People get extremely defensive and run for the covers, but I believe we have to talk about it.
British people are surprised that I’m British!
The area where I grew up in Birmingham was very diverse – I was aware of my race but not overly aware of it – and there seemed to be an understanding that we were all very much in the same boat.
We’ve yet to deal with the uncomfortable history of England being involved in the transatlantic slave trade, whereas America has at least made some movies dealing with its racial history.
We all have insecurities, but some of us are better at covering them up.
My parents came over from Barbados in the late 1950s and early ’60s.
We all know the wonders of Skype, but there’s nothing like getting a hug from your daughters or taking them to school.
Giving kids the chance to see live theatre should not just be free, it should be compulsory.
I was in a number of school plays, one in particular, when I was 13 or 14, entitled ‘Illusions.’ It was put together by one of the teachers, and was about famous historical figures. I had to do the Martin Luther King ‘I have a dream’ speech, and some black women in the audience were clapping and crying and whooping.
When I was in South Africa, I went for dinner with some friends, and I knew more about their history than they did – it just hasn’t been told.
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