Latest Mahershala Ali Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• At the end of the day we're all spirits having a physical experience. That really comes from my relationship with Islam because it just makes me really conscious of my action.

  Mahershala Ali

  Islam, Spirit, Action

  Source: www.npr.org

• My connection to music is so strong. I cling to it. I vibe out to it. I release stress to it. Music is really always close to me. It's really present in my work in terms of how I relate to characters is through rhythm and sound, even in their speech.

  Mahershala Ali

  Strong, Stress, Character

  "New spotlight, new baby for Oscars-bound Mahershala Ali". Associated Press Interview, www.dailymail.co.uk. February 17, 2017.

• Having a child is the polar opposite experience of the awards season experience. The awards-season experience requires you to be out in the community, in the heart of the community, at the nucleus of the film community in a really committed way for about a six-month period of time. Having a child requires you to nest, to be in your home, and to create and make your home and environment that is one that is potentially very welcoming and nurturing for a child.

  Mahershala Ali

  Children, Home, Heart

  "New spotlight, new baby for Oscars-bound Mahershala Ali". Associated Press Interview, www.dailymail.co.uk. February 17, 2017.

• It felt, like, so far from - or far enough from the reality of things that we can enjoy it purely as entertainment. And now it feels a little bit too in alignment, honestly, but yeah - so we'll see how season five [House of Cards] goes over there.

  Mahershala Ali

  Reality, House Of Cards, Littles

  Source: www.npr.org

• I never wanted to accept that. And so I have always fought against that in some way, shape or form and had - I've had people who have supported trying to get me in for things that were beyond the character description.

  Mahershala Ali

  Character, People, Trying

  Source: www.npr.org

• I became more curious about the story behind the story [in the House of Cards]. So what was really going on behind the headline? And it's a little bit sad that that show, it doesn't seem so much like entertainment the way it did back when we started doing it.

  Mahershala Ali

  House Of Cards, Stories, Littles

  Source: www.npr.org

• How do I transform and be believable as Krogstad in "A Doll's House" or Sir Peter Teazle in "A School for Scandal".

  Mahershala Ali

  School, House, Dolls

  "In 'Moonlight,' Actor Mahershala Ali Found Characters He Recognized". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. February 16, 2017.

• When you graduate is when you start to find yourself looking at the information in the audition breakdown and it says tall black African - or African-American built such and such. And you start seeing these character descriptions and seeing that, oh, you're only going in for the ones that are described as your look.

  Mahershala Ali

  Character, African American, Black

  Source: www.npr.org

• I got into [acting] so late because of sports. And then when I was in grad school, I sort of got lulled into basically forgetting I was black, in - meaning that everyone you play at a conservatory, 95 percent of the characters are non-black.

  Mahershala Ali

  Sports, School, Character

  Source: www.npr.org

• I played all four years [at St. Mary's College] with - at a certain point, basketball became the thing I was doing most, but it was really in my periphery.

  Mahershala Ali

  Basketball, College, Years

  Source: www.npr.org

• It was really a focus on how to in some ways keep moving in this direction towards something that allowed me to express myself in a way that sports didn't.

  Mahershala Ali

  Sports, Moving, Focus

  "In 'Moonlight,' Actor Mahershala Ali Found Characters He Recognized". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, kanw.com. February 16, 2017.

• In my time at St. Mary's College, drifting out of sports because it was something that began to feel really finite. And I could see that I didn't have the passion to sustain a career in sports.

  Mahershala Ali

  Sports, Passion, College

  Source: www.npr.org

• I didn't have the passion for athletics in that way, that there were other parts of me that felt under-served and that needed to be nurtured and needed my energy.

  Mahershala Ali

  Passion, Energy, Way

  Source: www.npr.org

• Getting to St. Mary's College was a big deal for me because that essentially led to me getting to go to NYU.

  Mahershala Ali

  College, Nyu, Bigs

  "In 'Moonlight,' Actor Mahershala Ali Found Characters He Recognized". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, wvtf.org. February 16, 2017.

• I wanted to get that scholarship to - a division one scholarship and play ball and go to school for free. And that, to me, was - I was always about getting to that next step. If I could get to that next place, then I could figure out essentially what to do with being in that space and how to manage my time and handle those - handle all the benefits of being in that space in a way that would get me to the next place.

  Mahershala Ali

  School, Play, Space

  Source: www.npr.org

• I was always sort of ahead of myself in some way, shape or form and trying to envision how to get further along and closer to fulfilling that dream of being of being free and having a creative agency, so to speak.

  Mahershala Ali

  Dream, Agency, Creative

  Source: www.npr.org

• I do think that there are people who are able to connect with and empathize with anyone who is going through something difficult, just naturally. I don't think it's a world of effort for everyone.

  Mahershala Ali

  Thinking, People, Effort

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• When it finally came my way and doors opened up for me to do it and to be on stage, it felt like a natural thing to try out. And it just so happened to speak to me. I really couldn't do what I needed to do in the most fulfilling way in Hayward, Calif., or in the Bay Area, that it required me to go off to NYU.

  Mahershala Ali

  Doors, Nyu, Trying

  Source: www.npr.org

• Gay, straight - whatever - adolescents in high school and coming out of junior high, that's such a difficult, awkward period and kids can be so cruel and mean.

  Mahershala Ali

  School, Mean, Kids

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• My father had a lot to do with me thinking about acting, though he never saw me act. He passed away probably - he passed away as I was doing my first play, but I just think being exposed to it and being around it. It wasn't something that I ever thought I couldn't do because I grew up around it.

  Mahershala Ali

  Father, Thinking, Play

  Source: www.npr.org

• Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah's second son was - his symbolic name was Mahershalalhashbaz. And Isaiah was - the Prophet Isaiah was instructed to write the name in all capital letters as a prophecy. And it means hasten to the spoils, speedy as the prey.

  Mahershala Ali

  Writing, Mean, Son

  Source: www.npr.org

• Because on that watch list, they would be like, yeah, your name - they told me like, yeah, your name matches the name of a terrorist or someone that they're watching. I was just like, what terrorist is running around with a Hebrew first name and a Muslim - Arabic last - I'm like, who's that guy?

  Mahershala Ali

  Running, Names, Guy

  Source: www.npr.org

• Again, having - fortunately having never been in trouble. And eventually I found out that I was on a watch list.

  Mahershala Ali

  Watches, Lists, Trouble

  Source: www.npr.org

• This is 2003, 2004. And then I started - after the Patriot Act, I would always get my financial packages in the mail and they would just be opened. And it was like, what is going on here?

  Mahershala Ali

  Mail, Financial, Patriot

  Source: www.npr.org

• I remember after 9/11, I started - I was working quite a bit in Vancouver. And then I realized I would go to catch my flight, and it would take me like 20 minutes to get cleared to fly, like, every time. I'm like, what is going on?

  Mahershala Ali

  Vancouver, Remember, Flight

  Source: www.npr.org