Lamman Rucker

We're human beings trying to love each other. There are constant revelations and room for growth.

Everything is a negotiation. Everything is a little bit of give and take.

Everybody is important. Everybody has something to give.

When all is said and done, I want to die exhausted and empty because I gave everything that was in me. I believe that's why we're all here: to give of ourselves to one another to help create a better world, because you can't take it with you.

I still play ball competitively because it helps keep me stay in shape.

I'm especially honored that The Black Gents will debut Off-Broadway and pay tribute to The Tuskegee Airmen and other ancestors of that time who have embodied excellence, self-determination, and self-discipline.

A part of growing up in this international world is understanding and being prepared and having tools to adapt outside of the small environment that you may have come from. That's what education is all about.

I learned at a very young age how to be simplistic and sincere.

You can change your body shape by permitting yourself to exercise and eat a healthy diet and so on - and we've heard miraculous stories of people who have lost hundreds of pounds, and they look like a completely different person - but that's not the norm for the average person, and a lot of times, people don't get that way in a healthy way.

There's no greater source of happiness than giving yourself to other people.

I'm a proud Ellington alum. It has everything to do with who I am.

I don't have a problem showing vulnerability.

People have no concept of boundaries.

My mother and father were visionaries in Pittsburgh, part of that collective of people who were creative and active together, and I am a product of that community and those relationships.

Pittsburgh is home. I was born there, and it will always have priority in that respect.

Throughout my career, I wouldn't say my roles have been based on my being considered eye candy.

No one likes to be typecast, but I would like to believe that the attention I get is for my acting, but at the same time, darn it, if I get to keep playing the handsome, smart guy, then that's also a blessing, and it's the last thing I would complain about.

I play real men that I can identify with. I have a lot of guys tell me that they relate to me because I represent the real, everyday dudes.

Black people are not often considered mainstream.

My ability to bring different characters to life is what has helped me advance in my career, and I would say as far as looks are concerned, well, I suppose that would be the icing on the cake, but acting comes first and foremost.

I'm all about black folks working together and progressing together.

This is America, and everybody has the right to voice and to have an opinion and to have their commentary on things and people.

It's great to go to work and your boss is a black man, one of your peers, you know?

When you learn how to be really attentive, you learn the importance of patience and appreciating a woman. You're able to appreciate the softness of her skin and the look in her eyes. It's a connection.