When you're in a position that you can comfortably give, you need to pay it forward.
— Nelsan Ellis
Boot camp was the first time I got a heavy dose of discipline. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Whenever you have a character in which one of his defining qualities is his sexuality, it's always challenging, because you don't want to bring in someone who's going to play that in a phony way.
You have to learn to not hate who you have to live with.
When you act with phenomenal actors, it makes your job much easier because all you have to do is react.
I don't look anything like my mother, except when I'm Lafayette. I look like my father.
Alan Ball, he's good at challenging his actors, I'll say that.
I am a vampire/werewolf and sci-fi fanatic. God is so good! I get to play in a series that has all that!
When you deal with Alan Ball, you're dealing with a person who is a genius in terms of how art imitates life.
Domestic violence is an epidemic, and yet we don't address it. Until it happens to celebrities.
I was quiet, and I was artistic. I liked writing poetry, and that was very strange, so I was bullied a lot.
My idea of horses is from when I grew up on a farm. They were big, and they were dumb.
Being different gives the world color.
I empty myself out and fill myself with the character. I would play a devil worshipper, and I would fill myself up with whatever devil worshippers believe. Then, as myself, I empty that out and become Nelsan.
The beautiful thing about this country is that I can be a Christian and feel free to do so. Or somebody cannot be a Christian and do whatever that entails. Or somebody can be a Christian and still be gay, and I support it.
When I moved to Chicago, I was coming from a school that didn't have any arts in Alabama. I essentially came from a town where the arts didn't exist and the desire for education didn't exist and wasn't valued.
But no one told me that when you're in the military, they own you.
The arts are suffering amongst public schools, but also, minority theater companies are struggling, and I firmly believe in freedom of expression through the arts.
I was raised by women.
Although I can be a leading man, you wouldn't look at me and go, 'He's a leading man.'
You go back to my town, it's like going back to the 1960s... just not a great place to grow up.
The ultimate part that I want to play in my life is Jimi Hendrix, so I guess I'm drawn to music even though I can't sing or dance very well.
Fiona Shaw is a goddess to me.
'Interview with a Vampire' is my all-time favorite. I also loved 'An American Werewolf in London.'
At some point in my life, I wanted to be in a vampire movie.
The sci-fi fans in America... they are die-hard. They will follow you to the ends of the Earth. Once they attach themselves to a show and believe in the show and love the characters, they're there forever, and they're unshakeable.
I rejected being a lot of things that I grew up in, and yet I didn't. I got all my tactics from where I grew up... I can talk about all the people in those environments more than I can talk about the teachers at Juilliard or anyone else.
Acting is the only thing that makes me happy.
I had no intention of being an actor.
Being different makes you beautiful.
My mom's side, they're southern Baptist Christian.
If you want to get married to a man, then get married to a man. If two women want to get married, they should get married. It's not hurting me.
I was quiet. If I really wanted to say something, I would. I just wasn't interested in saying anything.
I love working with Alexander Skarsgard. He brings such gravity to a scene.
I can't approach a character with judgment.
There are homophobic people in my family. They're deeply religious.
Everybody kept saying, 'I just don't know how to sell you.' I'm odd. I don't think you can put a finger on me.
You have to be a tough gay person in the South.
When I wanted to become a serious actor, this girl told me, 'You should go to Juilliard.' And I said, 'Okay.'
I see a project, and I say I want to audition for it, and people let me audition for it. There's a lot to be grateful for.
Anna Paquin is marvelous, and she brings so much experience to the table.
I went from unknown to having no anonymity.
I'm not an emotional person; I keep it in, and I wouldn't know how to get it out if it weren't for acting and writing.
I can play a doctor, and I can play a thug.
It's hard to get an education when teachers spend 70 percent of their time trying to discipline students.
My years at Thornridge probably changed the course of my life.
There were not many black students at Juilliard, unfortunately. So when you get there, you become very good friends, in particular, with the other black students.
Let gay people get married.
I think, in this country, anybody can do whatever they want to do as long as it's not hurting anybody else or violating the laws of society.
I'd always dabbled in acting.
