Michael K. Williams
Doing something that warrants the attention of the President of the United States is super cool.Collection: Cool
I know nothing of what it is to be a gangster.
Revenge is not a positive state of mind or energy to indulge your self in.
As we say in the hood, I'm a stoop kid.
You know, my childhood was pretty colorful; I like to use the word 'turbulent.'
Music is always a part of my characters' make-up.
I'm more liable to hurt myself than someone else.
My dream role is to portray someone like James Baldwin. I've always been a fan of his writing, and I feel like he's one of our unsung heroes. He's been pretty much forgotten, and I think he needs to be recognized. He had to go all the way to Europe to find recognition and acceptance, and I'd just like to bring him to the forefront.
I came out the womb dancing.
I haven't had a problem with being typecast, but if I was only getting one type of role, I wouldn't mind. What I'm worried about is not working.
I come to work on time. I focus on my job. I bust my scenes out and everything else kind of happens from there.
Having been through the muck and mire, I've had my own brush with bad choices.
I'm totally comfortable today with the success that Omar and 'The Wire' have brought me - living with that character, being recognized and remembered for that character.
My only goal is to stay focused on my craft and make sure my life is as sharp as it can be to attack any character that is given to me.
You know, Tupac is very near and dear to my heart. He started my career as an actor.
I know plenty of adults who act like teenagers.
All my characters have playlists.
People misconstrue when I say I was a dancer. I was not classically trained. I was a street dancer, and I got to do what I did in the nightclubs of New York City.
The arts saved my life.
'The Wire' is very realistic and based on real events.
People say they love the characters I've chosen in my career. But I didn't choose anything. I just happened to be working and these were offered to me.
I got picked on a lot as a kid.
God has blessed me. I've been given a lot. I'm at peace with myself. It's time to give back.
If you've ever felt oppressed on any level, there's something from 'The Wire' that you can take and identify with.
Cajun culture is dying.
I do happen to love Honey Nut Cheerios. I don't know if I want to walk down to the store in my pajamas for them. But I do love them.
I grew up in East Flatbush in Brooklyn which was an intense neighbourhood filled with different West Indian cultures.
I use my job to engage empathy and compassion for people society might stereotype or ostricise.Collection: Jobs
The most successful people reach the top not because they are free of limitations, but because they act in spite of their limitationsCollection: Successful
CHILDHOOD IS THAT STATE WHICH ENDS THE MOMENT A PUDDLE IS FIRST VIEWED AS AN OBSTACLE INSTEAD OF AN OPPORTUNITYCollection: Educational
At the core of every person or belief, there's a pain and a thorn. There's always something, whether it's a physical thing, a health thing, or an I wish I had someone or something in my life thing. We all know some level of pain, so I like to see the ugliness of characters. It's a side that we show, only when we strip down in the bathroom mirror.Collection: Pain
I am a dark-skinned, nappy-headed, scar-faced dude from the streets of Brooklyn. I can't hide from being who I am. It's all over my face.Collection: Dark
I am the epitome of the underdog. By societies standards I should have been dead a long time ago, and I was nobody's gangster, I wasn't a thug, I wasn't selling drugs on the corner - I was scared of that.Collection: Thug
I understand pain very well, so I look for that in a role. If the characters are well-written, don't tell nobody, but I'll do the damn thing for free. I'm serious. It's the writing. I love beautifully flawed characters.Collection: Pain
Our criminal justice system has swallowed up too many people I love.Collection: People
When you love someone unconditionally, you go to war for them, and they do that for each other. They know they can call each other when they need each other. In this day and age, everyone needs a friend like in Hap and Leonard.Collection: War
The streets would have chewed me up and spit me out and I knew that, but I found my own ways and different knacks for getting in trouble and being reckless with my life. And I've overcome a lot of personal demons and to be alive is really my greatest achievement.Collection: Achievement
My job is to bring to life the character, not to put the words on the paper.Collection: Jobs
Addiction is a health issue, not a social issue, not a crime, not a legal issue.Collection: Issues
It's weird, sometimes I still see myself as just starting out. I tend to forget how much I've been doing, but in the beginning it is about the hustle, being out there and doing the work. Nothing is going to come to you, you have to get out there and do the work, and I've been doing that. But sometimes it's good to take a break and let these things air out. Reflect and take it in.Collection: Air
Writers will see your work and want to try you in different things but I think you have to stay true to your vehicle. We all have a vehicle. Whether it's a thug, or a school child or the babyface or the sex siren or the video vin, whatever it is ride that until the wheels fall off and eventually, if you build your foundation then you can branch off.Collection: Sex
I love dealing with drama. I'm drawn to the painful side of storytelling, more so. I feel like that's where you get the most honesty from. My laughter comes from irony. You laugh at my pain. I can't look for the laugh 'cause I'll fall flat on my face. I like the type of laughter that comes from irony like, "Of course, it's sunny today when I wore a mink coat!" I'm that guy. I was raised on Benny Hill and The Odd Couple and The Honeymooners.Collection: Laughter
You know, my childhood was pretty colorful; I like to use the word turbulent.Collection: Childhood
I grew in a community where I saw the process of how one becomes a drug dealer or a gang banger or a stick-up kid. There's a series of events that happen. People don't just wake up and decide they wanna be that.Collection: Kids
No one wakes up one day and decides they want to become a drug dealer or they want to be a stick-up kid. Those decisions are made after a series of events have happened in one's life.Collection: Kids
I'm looking for diversity, all my characters may or may not be on the wrong side of the tracks. It doesn't mean that they're all the same.Collection: Character
Music's been part of my entire life. It's in my DNA.Collection: Dna
My childhood was pretty colorful; I like to use the word turbulent. But it was a great time to grow up, the '70s and '80s in Brooklyn, East Flatbush. It was culturally diverse: You had Italian culture, American culture, the Caribbean West Indian culture, the Hasidic Jewish culture. Everything was kind of like right there in your face. A lot of violence, you know, especially toward the '80s the neighborhood got really violent, but it made me who I am, it made me strong.Collection: Strong
My goal is to end mass incarceration and change the laws to stop locking up low-level, nonviolent drug charges. Stop charging drug addicts as criminals.Collection: Law
I'm good with all my roles, I've never had a bad role.Collection: Roles