Cliff Curtis

I believe in collaboration, which is why I work with others to make positive contributions of consequence, and why I have made a very clear and unwavering commitment to remain absolutely apolitical.

As an actor... at some point you've got to forget that the crew's there in order to do your job.

I put on close to 60 pounds for 'Genesis,' an independent movie from New Zealand.

I'm still waiting for Peter Jackson to let me play an elf. I want to play Orlando Bloom's father. No, Orlando Bloom's younger, hotter brother. I don't think it's going to happen.

I take the responsibility of playing another ethnicity very, very seriously, and I promise myself and those people that I will represent them with as much dignity and integrity as I can muster.

I don't play bad guys. I think that's why I keep getting cast as bad guys: because I don't want to play bad guys. I want to play human beings that struggle with life.

I did a weird thing when I was about 24. For four years I had written quite a lot of poetry, and I started reading through it and thought some of it was really good. So I burnt it all.

I was a manual labourer. I figured out really early on that the value of my life could be determined by my hourly rate as a manual labourer digging holes.

People were nicer to me when I was in the arts. I experienced extreme racism in small-town New Zealand. Racism which really went away when I got into the arts.

I ate fantastic Italian food in Croatia, which you wouldn't expect. The food in Istanbul was amazing. I never would've expected that and the food, I guess you're learning something about me, the food in Prague, they're very, very heavy meat eaters, like, a lot of meat, which is great.

As an actor, you've got to have faith in the director's vision, that the director has a vision for this that is greater than the critics say.

While I respect my cousin Annette Sykes' commitment in engaging in the political process, I do not endorse or support any political party.

My priority in life is my whanau, followed by my work as an artist, which has blessed me with the ability to provide opportunities working with others to advance the well-being of Maori.