People of African descent, most of us grew up accepting and loving Spider-Man. I still love Spider-Man. I still love the Incredible Hulk. I still have those characters that were white role models, superheroes, heroes - whatever you want to call it. You basically had no choice but to accept those.

Chadwick Boseman

You have to cherish things in a different way when you know the clock is ticking, you are under pressure.

Chadwick Boseman

clock-is-ticking pressure way

I think you realize how much you need to have people that you love. It's not as much about them loving you - it's about you needing to love people.

Chadwick Boseman

loving-you people thinking

You might have one thing in your head, but the things you're doing don't really lead down the right road, necessarily. When you're young, you don't want to hear that. You think you can do everything, be all things.

Chadwick Boseman

want might thinking

I'm an artist. Artists don't need permission to work. Regardless of whether I'm acting or not, I write. I write when I'm tired in fact, because I believe your most pure thoughts surface.

Chadwick Boseman

tired writing believe

Guys are natural problem solvers - they like to have strategies.

Chadwick Boseman

strategy guy problem

The best advice about getting older? Just be thankful you're not dead!

Chadwick Boseman

getting-older being-thankful advice

Girls like dudes that are overweight. I know too many women who say, "I like you now that you've got a little thicker," and I don't really know any woman that says, "I like you now that you've got bald."

Chadwick Boseman

girl i-like-you littles

When it comes down to it, I'd rather have an action figure than a Golden Globe.

Chadwick Boseman

golden figures action

I wasn't a comic book geek as a kid. I read some, but it was just like, "Oh, I have this comic book here." It wasn't like I was collecting them.

Chadwick Boseman

geek kids book

I just think people have been very gracious and welcoming me on set, and even off set.

Chadwick Boseman

welcome people thinking

I might have had too many friends in my twenties. I probably said yes too much, and then I had to learn how to say no. How to get away in order to work on stuff.

Chadwick Boseman

twenties might order

Some people would view Jackie Robinson as a very safe African-American, a docile figure who had a tendency to try to get along with everyone, and when you look at his history, you learn that he has this fire that allows him to take this punishment but also figure out savvy ways of giving it back.

Chadwick Boseman

punishment fire views

Baseball players need strength but also the ability to make fast-paced, explosive movements, so their training is all about strengthening the tendons around the bone and the joint so you don't tear the muscles from the bones. And so the muscles will have endurance and stability. And flexibility, which helps you throw the ball harder or have the snap to hit a ball. Or to take off quickly to steal a base.

Chadwick Boseman

training player baseball

I love all types of music. Jazz, classical, blues, rock, hip-hop. I often write scripts to instrumentals like a hip-hop artist. Music inspires me to write. It's either music playing or completely silent. Sometimes distant sound fuels you. In New York there's always a buzzing beneath you.

Chadwick Boseman

artist new-york writing

I started out as a writer and a director. I started acting because I wanted to know how to relate to the actors. When people ask me what I do, I don't really say that I'm an actor, because actors often wait for someone to give them roles.

Chadwick Boseman

waiting giving people

There's nothing more stressful than your stomach growling.

Chadwick Boseman

growling stomach stressful

I majored in directing. However, I did spend some time at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, so I am somewhat well-versed in African Studies.

Chadwick Boseman

black research culture

I would love to play Jimi Hendrix.

Chadwick Boseman

hendrix play

In television you don't have a lot of time to spend with the role or the script. Typically you get a script a week prior to shooting. Sometimes it's even less time, not enough time to dream about the role.

Chadwick Boseman

enough-time roles dream

The legend of Yasuke is one of history's best kept secrets, the only person of non-Asian origin to become a samurai, that's not just an action movie, that's a cultural event, an exchange, and I am excited to be part of it.

Chadwick Boseman

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