“Growing up, we never got to see a hero who didn't have superpowers who looked like us, that you could kind of look to and say, 'I could be that guy one day. I could be a patriot. I could be a soldier. I could work in the government and be a hero.'”

“Heading out to L.A., doing this acting thing. You can't rest on your laurels out there. You finish a film, you don't know how it's going to do. You're talking about that next job, usually.”

“I didn't grow up seeing faces of patriots, emotional and raw and gritty, who looked like me.”

“I got to pick the mind of a genius, and I realized why he was a genius. And I realized the man behind the veil or whatever you want to call it. Do you know what I mean? I got to see what makes Dr. Dre Dr. Dre, and I got to interpret that. It's hard to put it into words, so the only thing I know how to do is put it on the screen.”

“I grew up in D.C.”

“I grew up singing, and I played on Broadway to thousands of people, you know what I mean?”

“I had my foot in both worlds. I knew what I didn't want, and so I had to make a choice, just like N.W.A. made choices.”

“I have family that are vets of the military. My grandfather served as well.”

“I have members of my family who are in the military. I have friends who are in the military. Classmates who served in the military.”

“I have the most utmost respect for the men and women overseas, and I only played a soldier on television. Again, I can only imagine the sacrifices that they make every single day.”

“I knew I wanted to be an artist early on, but I decided to seriously pursue the profession when I auditioned for Juilliard.”

“I know that people get cast based on how they look in Hollywood.”

“I like being the underdog.”

“I like doing things that people wouldn't necessarily think I can do.”

“I live in New York.”

“I prefer to do in-person interviews, but it's all a part of the job, and I love talking about these movies so much.”

“I remember seeing the first episode of '24' when I was 13, and to be that face for a 13-year-old and open up that possibility, it shows you the world isn't on fire. There's possibility there.”

“I remember 'The Cosby Show,' but that was something completely different. Comedy. There was a lightness to it and a sort of unrealistic perfection.”

“I sort of have to have a positive outlook.”

“I think, in our darkest moments, you have to find the humor, and you have to find the lightness.”

“If people don't connect to Eric Carter's struggles, I'm sure they'll find a character in this series to connect to. That's ultimately what it's about for me.”

“If the challenge wasn't there, there's no reason to say 'yes' to the role.”

“If you feel your rights are being abused by the authorities, and you don't say something, sometimes the cops don't know how far to take it. They have a hard job, but at the same time, I think it's just about educating yourself.”

“I'm a very private guy, so it's an adjustment for me, but a welcomed one, as long as the work remains the focus.”

“I'm having way too much fun on 'The Walking Dead.'”

“I'm so OCD about prep work and learning lines and stuff.”

“I'm tired of seeing people dying every day; I'm tired of seeing people go to jail for nothing.”

“In 2001, terrorism was fought in a completely different way.”

“In television, to be a hero and look like I look, that really stuck with me.”

“It can't be all serious at all times.”

“It's also crazy how Shakespeare has that cadence, and it's about locking into the jazz of the language, just like locking into the rhythm in N.W.A's lyrics.”

“It's always weird when it comes to awards and awards season because how can you say that this performance is better than this performance? Art is so subjective.”

“My mother's a police officer, so there was only so much trouble I could get myself into. But my father grew up on the other side.”

“On '24,' you don't have time to emote and deal with stuff, because stuff just keeps happening. Every other minute, there's something crazy that's happening that's threatening this country.”

“Sometimes, as actors, we feel like we want to hold on and control where a character goes.”

“Sometimes you just need to raise your voice. And sometimes a little anger is necessary, to be honest.”

“The challenge is making sure that every single moment is honest, no matter what. It's doing Eric Carter justice. Not trying to fill Jack Bauer's shoes. Not trying to step into Kiefer's legacy.”

“The only pressure, as an actor, is to step into Eric Carter's shoes and make him as fully and as complex and as flawed and as human as I could.”

“The only thing that I know how to do as an actor, as a trained actor, is you can't villainize the character you're playing. Whether it's a fictional character or a real character. Because then you operate from that sort of negative point of view, and you can't humanize him.”

“The rules of engagement are totally different when you're on the homefront.”

“The tension between the Capulets and the Montagues is like a gang rivalry, and that has everything to do with Compton.”

“There's no wrong choice because, whatever you choose, that's meant for you.”

“To be honest, sometimes you have to know your rights.”

“We are a diverse people, man.”

“We work so hard on our craft, and once we get out of Duke Ellington, there are not going to be people looking for technique. I worry about that a lot.”

“What everyone loved about '24' is still there - the clock, the tick, the lean-in factor, the pacing.”

“When it comes to the awards and everything, and the press, the publicity, this is all icing on the cake to me.”

“When somebody says, 'Do you want to play Dr. Dre in a movie?' I mean, how do you respond to that? My initial response was 'no' because I don't think I can do it ,and I don't want to be the one to mess it up!”

“While I was filming 'Kong' - and I don't play a very capable Army Ranger in 'Kong'; I play a completely different character - but we had a lot of Army Rangers there, former Army Rangers, and Navy SEALs, who were working on the movie with us for the other characters, for the Army guys in the movie.”

“With '24: Legacy,' there are a lot of people who are super-excited about the show. But there are a lot of people who are very skeptical.”

“You know how trends go with television. Next year, the networks might not be open to taking risks.”

“You read things, and they come to you, and if they speak to you at the moment and there's a voice in you that says, 'I don't know, that's risky,' or 'That's challenging,' then do it. Run at it and tackle it. And if it's bad, it's bad. You're gonna get over it.”