I didn't go into acting because I wanted to be a role model.
— Malcolm-Jamal Warner
What's interesting is, say, the O.J. trial and when the verdict came out, and there were people who celebrated, and there were people who thought that he's guilty, and it's a crime. Those reactions tend to be filtered through our own experiences.
I was definitely acutely aware, the transition of being seen as a child actor to being taken seriously as an adult actor. It's not always a smooth one.
When you're an independent artist, you need as much play or promotion as you can get.
There's something very surreal about driving a truck, looking in the rearview mirror, and seeing 20 cop cars behind you. Even though you know, 'We're just shooting. This is just a scene; we're making a movie here,' it's very unsettling.
Theater is my favorite platform. Television is my favorite paycheck. The more television I can do, the more theater I can do.
Though my music audience is cross-generational, like my television audience, my core demographic is people like myself. People who have grown up on hip-hop, but hip-hop doesn't necessarily speak to us any longer.
My band, Miles Long, is a jazz-funk spoken word band. There's jazz sensibilities, but I'm a bass player, so I'm very much into the head-bobbing vibe with sophisticated lyrics.
The Bill Cosby I know has been great to me and great for a lot of people. What he's done for comedy and television has been legendary and history-making. What he's done for the black community and education has been invaluable. That's the Bill Cosby I know.
A lot of times what happens is, not even just with child actors, but people in general, is they get so caught up in the now. The hot song, the hot TV show, the hot movie. You're not saying 'OK, this is cool, but where am I trying to be 20 years from now?' That's always been in the forefront of my mind.
I never wanted to be one of those 'Where are they now?' kids.
I planned so well for my post-'Cosby Show' life that I don't have to make desperate acting choices that conflict with what my values.
People kind of have a misconception, because when someone calls me Theo and I correct them, say, 'No, my name is Malcolm,' they think I have an attitude about it and I don't want to be associated with the show.
Mr. Cosby wanted to do a show not about an upper-middle-class black family, but an upper-middle-class family that happened to be black. Though it sounds like semantics, they're very different approaches.
But there's a huge blessing that comes from being a part of a show like 'The Cosby Show' that sets such a high standard of quality - it touched so many people on so many different levels.
When I was hanging out with Joey Clements in Chicago, I made it a point not to try to emulate him. I wanted basically to create my own character. I didn't want him to think I was hanging out with him solely to use him as research.
I used to say that it won't be until I'm 40, 50, 60 years old, still working consistently, will I be able to look back on my career and say, 'Wow, I have been successful.'
Theater is such its own living, breathing animal. You do a show every night, but it's different every night. Being on stage, you're experiencing a journey.
It's hard not to look at the road of the media and how the media is a big part of painting a picture for public opinion.
When we've had images that perpetuate the negative stereotype of people of color, we've always had 'The Cosby Show' to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that kinda leaves us not in a great place in terms of having the wide scope of the images of people of color.
Since the beginning of establishment, poets and spoken word artists have always been both vocal supporters and critics of government. And in this age of Trump as President, alternative facts, falsehoods becoming truth at the send of a tweet, it's vital that spoken word poetry does its job helping to keep folks 'woke' and not numb or shut down.
I've been writing all my life, and playing bass came later on, when I was about 26. What I recognized with poetry and music that I had a different voice - there were things I wanted to express that I could not as an actor or even as a director. It was another avenue of expression that my soul needs.
I would love to play just an all out bad guy who has fun being malicious. It would be totally unexpected, and that's what would make it exciting. Plus, bad guys don't see themselves as bad guys, so you could have fun with that.
I have two main bass guitars, and my main bass is a four-string 1964 Fender Jazz, and I've named it Justine.
The beautiful thing about theater is every night is an opportunity to incorporate what you discovered the night before.
I never wanted to look back on my career and be embarrassed about work that I chose to do. I never wanted to look at character I've done and cringe.
Acting had been a hobby that turned into a career, the directing was a hobby that turned into a career, and music just really allowed me to find another way to express myself. I started playing bass in November 1996, and by June 1998 I was doing my first live show.
African-Americans are not a monolithic group. So, we tend to talk about the black community, the black culture, the African-American television viewing audience, but there are just as many facets of us as there are other cultures.
Being a celebrity can be very intoxicating and very addicting. And I've always been afraid of that, because I've grown up post-almost every child star out there who has gone wayward.
I never wanted to look back on my career and be embarrassed about work that I chose to do.
I'm trying to break the stereotypical role now of the Theo-type character because, in my post-'Cosby' life, as I call it, I don't want to be known as just the kind of guy who can play a Theo Huxtable-type character. I want to be known as being able to do more things, being able to stretch.
I think one of the greatest advantages we had on the show growing up was being exposed to Mr. Cosby - being exposed to his work ethic, being exposed to how he handles the job of celebrity and living in the public eye... I think that all had a real significant impact.
I have accepted that even when Mr. Cosby is long gone, I will still get asked about him.
Obviously, we all look at things through the filter of our own experiences.
I don't belong to a motorcycle club, but I know a lot of guys who do. I ride with some guys who do.
Our differences - in race, sexual preference, economic - have always been used as distractions to keep us divided. We get so wrapped up in our own stories that we can't hear each other.
I've always been a poet. My dad went to Lincoln University with Gil-Scott Heron, so I came out of the womb listening to Gil-Scott Heron.
People who feel under-appreciated sometimes make desperate moves.
I was doing community theater since I was about nine.
In spite of what some people claim, we are not in a post-racial era. I think it's still an important issue to bring up.
When I'm not working, I'm on the road with my band. Or I'm performing in poetry houses doing spoken work. So I've got another passion and another outlet that allows me to be creatively fulfilled and not sitting at home pulling my hair out waiting for the right role to come along.
I've met men who have been married 19, 20 years, and all of a sudden the wife decides one day she needs to find herself.
Doing 'Malcolm and Eddie' was probably the foremost miserable years of my life.
My perspective was always being on a number one show doesn't mean anything if I'm not still working consistently at 40 to 50 and 60 years old.
Acting had been a hobby that turned into a career, the directing was a hobby that turned into a career and music just really allowed me to find another way to express myself.
