I did a movie called ‘The Savages’ with Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, where I played a nurse, and it showed me in a different role from what I played on ‘The Wire.’ It showed my range as an actor. Gbenga Akinnagbe Read Quote
You want a place where you can say that this is your show that you invested in with other actors, but there’s also that flexibility of being a recurring actor. Gbenga Akinnagbe Read Quote
I’m a very physical person. I’m very tactile. I wrestled in college, so a lot of my communication with the world comes through physicality – what I take in and what I put out there. Gbenga Akinnagbe Read Quote
Whether it’s someone struggling with mental illness, someone struggling with poverty or struggling with their own limitations in their social behaviors, for some reason, I’m drawn to characters like that. Gbenga Akinnagbe Read Quote
Growing up, I was in and out of trouble in group homes and other institutions, and when I was 14, I was locked up in a psychiatric hospital for a number of months for behavioral problems. Gbenga Akinnagbe Read Quote
If the project has good writing and is something I get excited about, then I’ll do the role. And if it’s for TV, I’ll ask myself, ‘Is it a show that I’d watch?’ If it’s a play or movie, I’ll want to know if there’s a good director attached. Gbenga Akinnagbe Read Quote
