Mykelti Williamson Quotes

I never really thought about what characters I play. I always just wanted different characters.

For Closer, we've had five weeks. You go into every single word because it's very, very concentrated dialogue.

And I have the support of the writers: I have a great relationship with the creative team, and they have a good hold of my character and my personality, and they come up with some great stuff, and I'm forever trying to change it up, keep it fresh.

I know all actors are different, but I've never sat down and asked the writers, 'Where are we headed? Am I good or bad?'

When you do a play, or even a movie, you have weeks to finesse your character. You really understand why they do what they do. In TV, you get new material weekly about your character.

A lot of times, scripts are written so the character is all one way. Even with 'Bringing Out the Dead,' the character was written a little more generic.

I'd read a lot of scripts, and I remember reading 'Orange Is the New Black,' and it was at the head of the pack. I remember thinking, 'Wow, that is really good. I would love to be a part of that.'

In 'Law & Order,' your main job is to stay out of the way of the plot. On another show you'd receive your script and see stuff that seems challenging and feel excited that the writers thought highly enough of you to write it for you.

The moment you say, 'I want to do a role,' the story suffers. I don't set priorities in terms of roles or scripts.

A lot of actors are like, 'Why do I do this? My character wouldn't do this? This doesn't make sense.' And in a comedy, you kind of just need to walk into the door.

Every role is challenging in its own way, but the most challenging roles are the ones that are badly written - then it's completely up to you to come up with something that is interesting to the story and myself as an actor.

I'm not looking to do 'Half Nelson' next, but to play anything that's a little more complex is really fun.

I'd love to do another television series. I really love the writing process, and as an actor I really like how much you get to examine in television.

I think sometimes actors are drawn to good television because you have more time to sell it, you have more time to shape a character, and to tell a story, and that's really appealing.

Well, I've always been a character actor, you know, and you always get your share of character actors who are bad guys. So it never surprises me. And if it's good writing, you can find your way into the part well enough.

You want to go into scenes thinking not that you're the good guy or the bad guy, but that you've got a job to do. And I'm not talking about as an actor; I'm talking about as the character.

I have never been one of those actors who say, 'Oh, my character wouldn't do this,' or 'My character never wears an orange shirt,' or any of the number of inane things I've heard on movie sets throughout my career.

When you get to set, you don't try to play the plot; you just play the character.

When my career started on daytime soaps, those characters usually didn't have much depth to them. The main goal was to memorize my lines in order to film efficiently the next day. But with 'Jane The Virgin,' the writing is strong, and everything is intentional.

Playing dysfunctional characters or crazy characters is only fun if they're well written. So I have been lucky enough to be asked to play crazy people who are very well written.

Every character I approach, from 'Forrest Gump' all the way up to 'The Spoils Before Dying,' has a different set of requirements and always fascinates me.

I just did what the script demanded from me in 'Uyir.' I felt it was indeed a challenging role for me.

As an actor, I have always felt, everything is available in the script. If there is anything you feel the script lacks, you can have a discussion with the director and point out those.

I don't know acting, but I choose good stories and portray emotions according to the story.

Most actors do that. They fill in the blanks. You don't want to play a cipher.