It's funny, because in drama school, my greatest strength was my range. So my early career was like that: I played all kinds of different characters. Lance Reddick More Quotes by Lance Reddick More Quotes From Lance Reddick I mean, you know actors, we always want to do something else, something different. Lance Reddick actors different mean As I got further into my career, as a character of color, if I was going to have the types of opportunities I felt I deserved, and continue to have them, I was going to have to start creating those opportunities for myself. Lance Reddick color opportunity character You either get better, or you don't progress. Lance Reddick progress get-better A very odd thing happened to my career when I got The Wire. My career was pretty much a steady climb; I didn't really flatline much. When I did The Wire, that's when I thought all the doors would open, but that's when things flatlined. I had a really hard time just getting seen for film, which was the next step. Lance Reddick wire hard-times film Notes are tricky in an audition, because I find, more often than not, my instinct is right. Lance Reddick auditions instinct notes Nothing will ever top 'The Wire.' It was historical. It was black cinema. Lance Reddick wire black historical That's what David Caruso said to me. We were talking about the whole Emmy thing, and he said that one of the things about awards in this town is that a lot is about the drama - like the drama of the performance. And he said "Your show, The Wire, looks so real, it almost looks like a documentary. And people who aren't artists - a lot of people who vote for this stuff - don't get it." Lance Reddick artist real drama The African American community is so under-served in the entertainment industry. Lance Reddick african-american entertainment community 'The Wire' really drew on a lot of real-life situations and real-life organizations - it created fiction to make a social statement about reality. Lance Reddick wire organization real When you're in a high-stress situation, dynamics between people can change. Lance Reddick dynamics stress people I did an Off-Broadway show that was a comedy written by Ann Meara. We were like a family, and we did that show for a year. On Oz, I did feel like the cast members were friends and there was a lot of bonding. That said, there was a lot of testosterone. Once again, it was full of really intense theater actors with this writing that was really intricate and subtle. Lance Reddick intense comedy writing If you're going to come at me, come at me respectfully, and I will respond respectfully. Lance Reddick ifs I'm an artist at heart. Lance Reddick artist heart I started acting, almost on a whim to help my music career. Lance Reddick careers acting helping Most of the characters I'd played were so different from me, so far from me that I had to transform. Lance Reddick different character I grew up studying music. I went to conservatory. Lance Reddick studying-music conservatory grew-up I can only speak as an American, but most journalism here isn't doing its job any more. It's about selling stuff. Lance Reddick journalism stuff jobs Growing up, I never imagined I would be an actor. Lance Reddick growing-up actors would-be When I was working on The Wire with the other actors, scene after scene after scene, I felt like we were singing together. We were dancing together. I'm like, "This is the best ensemble I've ever worked with. I'm working with these cats? Holy mackerel, this is heaven." Lance Reddick cat dancing heaven Don't be a victim; if you want to make movies, make movies. Lance Reddick victim ifs want