'Get Out' was born out of the genius mind of Jordan Peele, to whom I will be forever grateful for believing in me and allowing me to help him tell a story so dear to him.
— Daniel Kaluuya
Sometimes I'll work in America, sometimes I'll work in England. What's important is fulfilment. I just want to tell stories.
A lot of time, people enter the most depressing situations, and they are the funniest people on Earth, because they have to be. It's a coping mechanism.
I think the word 'diverse' is a cancerous word because it's life. It's a PC way of saying 'non-white,' and it ultimately suggests that white is the standard.
I think diverse stories are just stories. I don't think 'diverse' is an add-on package. Things that are not diverse are weird because that's not accurate.
I find it hard to watch a lot of the kind of things I'm doing before doing it. I don't think it's helpful for me. It makes me too aware.
'The Fades' is its own world. If you try and link it to some religion, you have people going, 'Oh, that's not right,' with their Bible open. Let's just chuck some imagination at it.
'Sucker Punch' was so demanding, it scared me a bit.
Some black women hug me and walk away. A lot of black men talk about dating white women and how they've been there, too. People open up about their racial experiences. I feel like I'm a walking therapy session. It's quite intense. But it means a lot to people.
My experience growing up in London and growing up in a working class background is that when people are down and out, that's when they're probably the funniest. They have to be. That's what they do to cope, to find joy, 'cause they don't feel the joy inside. Or they use humor to keep people out.
I go to Uganda, I can't speak the language. In India, I'm black. In the black community, I'm dark-skinned. In America, I'm British.
I don't think you become a name with just one job.
In the real world, there's probably nothing more horrifying than racism. Living racism is a horrifying experience. And then, having to normalize it and internalize it.
People are decisions and actions.
I resent that I have to prove that I'm black.
All I'm doing is being in films that I would watch if I wasn't in this industry.
Giggs is the realest.
This industry's hard. The world is hard. Being young and black is tough.
I just like playing guys, normal dudes. That's the stuff that I really enjoy watching: when it feels grounded.
'Diverse' shouldn't be an actionable thing - it should just be.
Racism kills people. It kills people!
Racism isn't just in America... Alienation is felt worldwide in different capacities.
There's a lot of black men running around with crazy trauma scars, and they should be going to therapy. They should be sitting down and talking to people. But they can't. If you've got the armor of being a man, and the armor of being a black man, that hyper-masculine thing can make those scars deeper.
I didn't take writing seriously at first - I didn't think I could do it. When I did, I fell in love with it. But writing is very lonely.
I hope people listen to black people more. You'd be surprised how little people listen to black people when it comes to racial issues. It's weird.
I wrote my first play when I was nine. It was performed at Hampstead Theatre.
'Skins' was like our uni. I'm tight with everyone from 'Skins' because we had that special experience together.
I just want to tell black stories.
I am definitely not a household face, and I don't expect to be one.
I've been to so many parties in England and in America that's exactly like that, where you're kind of, like, seen as Other. When you're just living your life, and you have to adopt the Other in order to understand and navigate the society.
I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I'm black. No matter that every single room I go to, I'm usually the darkest person there... I kind of resent that mentality. I'm just an individual.
I'm dark-skinned. When I'm around black people, I'm made to feel 'other' because I'm dark-skinned. I've had to wrestle with that, with people going, 'You're too black.' Then I come to America, and they say, 'You're not black enough.'
I love being black.
Donae'o is too cold; he's been dropping bangers since 2000.
When I need a reality check, I call my mum.
I think that's all you do as an actor. You give ingredients for the edit, and the edit's the stew, and they try to make a meal out of it. That's all you are. You just throw things in. This is an idea, this is an idea.
I have to own the fact that I'm a black man - that's why I did 'Black Panther' and 'Widows' because if I play the industry game, I lose.
I like three-dimensional characters - it's just more interesting when you get on set.
What you want to do is make people talk, start a conversation.
Really, I have no idea how I'm perceived in the industry.
I love comedy. I don't think there's enough comedy on stage.
When you're a young black man, you're not allowed to be emotional. One of the reasons I act is people pay me to be emotional.
'A Prophet' is one of my favorite films of all time.
Even people who say that black people are minorities, there are a billion black people in the world. A billion white people. What part of that is a minority? If you separate yourself, then maybe. But I see black people as one man. When I see people beaten on the streets of America, that hurts me. I feel that.
Being young, working class, and black, everything you do is policed. If someone hits you and you hit back, you are aggressive. If you cry, you are weak. You are kind of always pretending to be something.
I listened to this book, 'The Beauty Myth,' about how beauty standards are messing with women in Western society, and I was like, 'I don't know this.' I have no idea, and I don't pretend to, but now I'm more aware of it because I've engaged on that frequency.
I know what it means to be stopped by police. I've been stopped by police a lot.
Big up Samuel L. Jackson, because here's a guy who has broken down doors.
What I find really exciting is stories from a different viewpoint.
Whenever I'm in a film that's from a perspective that is dominant within western culture... I'm always trying to prove myself. When it's from a black perspective, I don't have to - they get it.
