Leaving my first agent was both my best business decision and my worst business decision. It depends on how I want to look at my career because of opportunities that may have come had I stayed with him and because of the opportunities that did come because I had to fight harder for roles.

Carmen Ejogo

Categorized in : Opportunity Fighting Careers

Do not let your light be dimmed by anybody who doesn't appreciate the dream that you're trying to pursue.

Carmen Ejogo

appreciate light dream

The great fear I've had to overcome is the fear of failure. It can be safer to stay in a comfort zone that's not stretching yourself.

Carmen Ejogo

fear-of-failure overcoming comfort

You have to be willing to be afraid if you're going to be an artist.

Carmen Ejogo

willing artist ifs

Success for me will be where the body of work I've done afforded me the opportunity to be as good as I can be, and to explore myself and to see what I'm capable of. People like that share a willingness to be scared and to take chances.

Carmen Ejogo

done opportunity people

I was this very precocious kid with a big personality. When my mother saw that modelling was something I enjoyed, she didnt dissuade me.

Carmen Ejogo

personality mother kids

There are many mediocre entertainers who don't aspire to much more than fame and glory. It's very easy to have them as your role models because there aren't as many greats.

Carmen Ejogo

role-models roles glory

Intelligence starts to get pretty dull if it's not coupled with kindness.

Carmen Ejogo

ifs kindness dull

The great fear I've had to overcome is the fear of failure. You have to be willing to be afraid, if you're going to be an artist.

Carmen Ejogo

fear-of-failure artist overcoming

I'd love to play a full-out rocking chick.

Carmen Ejogo

chicks play

Musicals are finally kind of coming back to a degree, perhaps out of a sense of nostalgia.

Carmen Ejogo

degrees nostalgia kind

At the end of the day, I really go with my personal taste and with what's on the page in terms of character. But beyond that, there's a complexity about the scripts I tend to respond to. I've not lost my curiosity about how the world functions. And a script that can embody that and thematically explore bigger questions in a way which seems fresh is likely to get my attention. Frankly, I also have an eye for what will appeal to an audience, as opposed to a self-indulgent exercise that isn't taking the audience into account.

Carmen Ejogo

eye exercise character

I'm guessing that musicals didn't make sense anymore because of the changes in the political environment that began in the late Sixties, an era of self-awareness and social revolutions.

Carmen Ejogo

revolution political self

Success for me will be where the body of work I've done afforded me the opportunity to be as good as I can be, and to explore myself and to see what I'm capable of.

Carmen Ejogo

body done opportunity

The Hollywood culture is so invasive, and I definitely wanted to be near it eventually.

Carmen Ejogo

hollywood wanted culture

I was not seduced by the celebrity side of acting. However, as a British girl watching a lot of American TV, I saw that there was a whole world of opportunity in the States that I wanted to discover.

Carmen Ejogo

girl acting opportunity

I feel like I was born an actor. I did not pursue acting until I was a bit older. But I got a taste of it at an earlier age in the UK.

Carmen Ejogo

actors acting age

At times as an actor, it's often times unclear as to what the directors envision for a project.

Carmen Ejogo

projects actors directors

I come alive when I'm painting. I like to work in oils and acrylics, and the full sensory engagement and self-expression is very stimulating to me.

Carmen Ejogo

oil expression self

Coretta Scott King was all about her pearl earrings. At one point, I'm wearing pearl earrings the size of golf balls. They're enormous! She was bold-she knew that she was the Jackie Kennedy of her community.

Carmen Ejogo

community kings golf

I make a really delicious eggplant and squash curry that's inspired by Vij of Vij's Restaurant, a great chef and restaurateur in Vancouver. I like to cook that dish because it's really simple, but the flavor is so pungent and intense that I feel like I'm a real chef whenever I create it.

Carmen Ejogo

feel great simple chef