I've played lots of law enforcement agents, and I do have friends that are in the bureau, in the DEA, and who are detectives and captains.
— Malik Yoba
I know that my fans, who have followed me for years, want to know what I'm doing.
The issues that black men face oftentimes are the issues that everyone faces. Do you have the ability to be present? Are you working on yourself? Do you understand what it means to be a man? To be responsible, loving, vulnerable?
I'm a dad; I started a program for young men when my first child was born.
When you engage with people as an artist you know exactly what they feel and what they're thinking.
Being a part of 'Empire' was a wonderful experience and opportunity to work with everyone involved.
Fantasies are not always what people think they are.
I'm happy with getting older and getting more focused. I thought I was focused when I was young, but you're only as focused as experience will allow you to be.
At the end of the day, if you are an actor, you definitely know that you're just work-for-hire.
If you do God's work, all your needs will be provided.
I had a paper route at eight years old in Harlem.
A lot of times, we don't seek the help. If you come from a family where you might have been abused, a lot of times, particularly with males, regardless of what the ethnic background is there's a sense of like 'Just keep it moving.'
As an adult I wasn't dying to participate in sci-fi projects.
Fred Bumaye shows great promise as a young filmmaker with a passion for story and the cinematic language.
Accents are definitely one of my strong suits, and a lot of folks don't know that.
I don't think it pays to just be an artist, particularly for kids of color - there will be fewer roles.
I fear no one.
When you do a pilot, you can't always tell what you have.
It's very rare that Black actors get an opportunity to do period pieces and to have a breadth of characters to choose from in their work.
In my experience on 'New York Undercover,' where I played a dad, I was 26 years old, and I didn't have kids then. And at that time, it would blow me away that people said they became a better parent because of watching my role on that TV show.
People think acting is just memorizing lines and doing facial expressions. No it's about traveling along a path of discovery, intention and connection.
We didn't even have a T.V. in my house until I was 13. My dad called it the 'idiot box.'
Most people haven't figured out when you are of service to other people outside of just yourself, the doorway for opportunity and blessings come in a very very different way.
It took me until my 40s to realize the five essential areas that are important to at least have a real dating chance. Obviously, beyond the physical compatibility, which is where we all start in junior high school, I think that intellectual compatibility and spiritual compatibility, emotional intelligence, and financial compatibility are important.
The things I'm most excited about are projects I'm producing. But if a director I'd love to work with calls, I'm always game.
For me, 'Cool Runnings' was amazing because I always wanted to bobsled and go to the Olympics.
Being raised Muslim, we had to get up at the crack of dawn to pray. There was no sleeping in, no getting up Saturday morning to watch cartoons because there was no TV in the house. But you got up and you worked, cleaned the house.
I've always had a lot of gay friends; transgender friends.
Food is very powerful.
As I kid I watched 'Star Trek' and 'Battlestar Galactica.'
Film and television, one is generally faster. Television generally moves faster in terms of directing, schedules and getting things done. Film, you're on a pretty tight schedule, so the process is the dame.
I'm a very funny person that doesn't get the chance to do a lot of comedy, and the same thing with my accents.
It's important to show that fathers do cook for their children. Mine sure did.
My father kicked me out of the house by the time I was 16.
If you go back and look at the pilot of 'Seinfeld,' no one would have thought that show would be what it became, and television isn't given that kind of chance anymore.
Playing Martin Luther King Jr. was an honor for me on so many levels. It was the most I've ever prepared for a role.
At the end of the day, people like drama - if everything is great, no one wants to hear about that.
When I'm doing a role the one thing I ask is 'Is this believable? am I being truthful?'
I come up from a music background.
At the end of the day, there's so much work that has to be done to impact positive change in any direction you look.
As your life expands your focus expands or contracts.
I personally don't prefer acting and directing in something because I don't have the same objectivity.
I'm doing work in the community.
I've directed web series, music videos, film shorts, and theater. It's just a hat I put on.
It's always nice when you see an email in your inbox that says 'offer,' then you read the email and go, 'Oh, okay. Who's doing it, what's it about?'
A lot of the shows I have done, I'm often the only black guy and I have often had to play second or third fiddle. It isn't necessarily a bad thing if it is a strong ensemble cast. But I feel people have overlooked my abilities.
I've always been an activist, so my participation in community outreach and helping is just a natural extension of that.
One of the reasons why I started creating my solo show is so that I have a place to put all of the accents that I do.
I believe in making your own opportunity.
I knew that I wanted to create a restaurant like Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood that celebrated not just music or Hollywood, but who we were as people of color, as Caribbean, African, Cajun and Southern people.
