When I dared to challenge the system that would relegate us to victims — Chadwick Boseman

"I was waiting to hear about 42. Nobody had called me. Nobody had told me anything. I had gone in for it 100 percent, but there was no reason for me to think I’d done well. Nobody had called me and said, "Hey, they really liked your audition." Nobody was like, "Hey, they’re really thinking about you." Nothing. But on that night, the play I was directing ended, and I went next door to a bar and was watching the end of the World Series, and I was like, "Yo, I’m about to get this role," and I knew it. And that was the night they called me. Just like — boom! — "It’s yours." … That year before 42, every pilot I went in for, it was like, "You’re gonna test for it and then somebody else will get it." It was a frustrating year, because I was so close to getting things that would have taken me to another place. But it was never actually happening. For some reason I couldn’t get anything. I only later realized that it was some divine intervention, because if I did some of those things, I wouldn’t have been available. You don’t get stuff, and it opens up other opportunities. But no, it’s not like I’d been waiting around for only the biggest roles."

"Every black actor has looked at Denzel and said they wanted to be Denzel."

"I don’t think I’ve done my best work yet, you know what I’m saying? It ain’t no time to rest right now. It’s the time to get your head clear and figure out what you’re gonna do next, but it’s not necessarily the time to go to the islands."

"I think you realize how much you need to have people that you love. Its not as much about them loving you — its about you needing to love people, you needing to have people that you can ert[sic — (perhaps "exert")] that energy toward. You have to have those people."

"When I got out of school, I didnt really understand the differences in the different aspects of the business. For example, doing a play—where does that take you versus, you know, concentrating on independent films? You might have one thing in your head, but the things youre doing dont really lead down the right road, necessarily. When youre young, you dont want to hear that. You think you can do everything, be all things."

"If you’re working as a writer, that doesn’t necessarily take you down the role of being a movie star. I said yes too much. I said yes to certain projects that weren’t for me. It was somebody else’s vision and somebody else’s dream and somebody else’s artistic endeavor, but it didn’t necessarily fit in my grand scheme. I was just trying to be around the people who do what I want to do, and you know, I think it takes a little bit more investigation to figure out, does this road actually lead to what I want? I remember my first agent telling me — because they found me as an actor, but I was probably more interested in writing and maybe directing — they were like, "Well, you can’t do both things." And I was like, "I’m gonna show you." And the truth of the matter is that we were both right. But you know, you have to choose a very clear path for your entry point, and then, once you define yourself as that clearly, you can venture off into other arenas, but especially at the beginning."