My father was Catholic, my mom Baptist, so we were raised Baptist but had a lot of Catholic upbringing: fish on Fridays, no birth control.

Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying or getting overly angry or to maintain control.

I took one thing to heart that I heard from Sidney Poitier in 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.' And it resonated so much with me. He says: 'Dad, you always looked at yourself as a black man. I look at myself as a man.'

If I weren't an actor, I'd either be a teacher or a critic.

When you work on big commercial movies, of course there's more money involved and you can still do some good work. But with an independent, you get films that are really close to the writers' and directors' heart. Somehow it becomes a little deeper. A little more meat and not as much flash.

I like to think I'm multi-faceted. Actually, my favorite roles are roles like in 'Far from Heaven.' Y'know. Soft people. Loving people.