There was a guy that was friends with my father, a very well-known and powerful hustler on the Eastern seaboard. He was a very interesting guy who would literally rent a passenger van and would take the poor kids from the ghettos and black neighborhoods down to the sporting goods store and just spend money. Buy them whatever they want.

Orlando Jones

Categorized in : Father Money Black Friends

It’s one of the most enjoyable experiences. To me, it’s theater. Immediate reaction, the second it’s done. I get to be in my living room with you, trolling my own show.

Orlando Jones

reactions done rooms

Someone I met years ago explained to me the difference between a personality and an actor, a personality being Eddie Murphy or Roseanne Barr, and an actor being Morgan Freeman and Alfre Woodard or Marlon Brando.

Orlando Jones

differences personality years

I'm challenging myself to reverse the hate.

Orlando Jones

challenging-myself hate challenges

Love without limits; reverse the hate.

Orlando Jones

reverse hate limits

Belly was not a bad movie. It was visually very interesting.

Orlando Jones

bad-movies belly interesting

I want to see as many black professionals as possible.

Orlando Jones

black want

Most of my friends between 21 and 31 are at different stages of figuring out what the hell they are going to do with their lives. It's a big part of our generation. What is the next step?

Orlando Jones

next-steps our-generation different

'Sleepy Hollow' was really the first thing I'd done that gave me the opportunity in the modern age to build an authentic relationship with an audience that was a lot more like what happens in theater.

Orlando Jones

me age opportunity relationship

Ultimately, the core premise of 'American Gods' is, 'What do you believe?' And how your beliefs can be manifested into reality.

Orlando Jones

your you believe reality

In New York, people are pretty cool, and you don't catch a lot of grief. But in certain spots, man, it's over. If I stand in the same place for more than 20 minutes or 10 minutes or something, there'll be 40 people standing there, all screaming something different.

Orlando Jones

cool you man people

I walked in thinking, 'I have ten movies under my belt and now they want me to go back to making commercials?' I said, if I do that, I want it to be funny.

Orlando Jones

movies me funny thinking

You give the guy an Image Award three years in a row and then turn on him like that? If that's the role they want to fulfill, they need to send a clearer message.

Orlando Jones

award you three want

That was one of the things that interested me about the character. He doesn't want to be a hero, and has no real desire to save the earth or discover aliens. He's sniffing around looking to see what will fall in his lap.

Orlando Jones

looking me hero character

I became acutely aware of how important it is to separate the difference between who you are and who the character you're playing is.

Orlando Jones

difference you important character

Religion is a tool to stamp out oppression, repression, and tyranny. It's to save the oppressed. That's what religion is for.

Orlando Jones

out oppression tyranny religion

People choose whatever projects they've seen that I've done over the years, and whichever one is their favorite is the only one they care about. But I realized that none of those were my voice or representative of what my thoughts and feelings were.

Orlando Jones

thoughts care voice people

I'm tired of cookie-cutter monolithic representation of black folks.

Orlando Jones

representation folks tired black

My father marched in Selma. My father was there in Alabama. That's where I was born. My birth certificate says 'colored.' It does not say I'm African-American or black. So for me, those are real realities that are not subject to opinion.

Orlando Jones

me black opinion father

I think it's impossible to be a young black male from the South, born to an era I was born in, and not have a clear sense of what race really means in the country.

Orlando Jones

think black impossible country

Sometimes I'm more inspired by stuff that tells a story and less inspired by stuff that's not a natural extension of what I'm already doing.

Orlando Jones

more doing story sometimes