When you go out and audition, you're going to hear a lot of 'No's.' As weird as it may sound, you almost have to love hearing 'no' because you're going to hear it way more than you hear 'yes'. Jay Ellis More Quotes by Jay Ellis More Quotes From Jay Ellis Everyone has a role, no matter where you are on the globe. Jay Ellis everyone where you matter A lot of what you're seeing these characters go through is something that either is a story one of the actors told in the writers' room or one of the writers themselves told in the writers' room. Jay Ellis something story go you Where I went to high school at was a predominantly white town, and I definitely got pulled over a number of times for driving in the wrong car on the wrong side of town. As you get older, you start to realize that at any moment, there could be a trigger, and that could be you in that situation. Jay Ellis moment you car school After the success of 'Empire' and 'How to Get Away with Murder' and 'Scandal' and 'Power' and 'Black-ish', which all had characters that were genuine, authentic, and had the language of real people, I found myself coming into pilot season and every network just wanted to have their version of one of those shows. Jay Ellis myself power success people It's like one of the best things that can ever happen to you as an actor: to have your story reach people, even if they don't look like you and even though they may not be able to identify with a black male; they can still identify with what's happening to you. Jay Ellis best you black people When you love somebody, you gotta be honest with them even if it'll hurt them. Jay Ellis somebody you hurt love I'm not a believer in 'what you don't know won't hurt you,' unless it's innocent. Jay Ellis know you innocent hurt I worked for a smoothie company, and that was rough. I also sold women's shoes for a very long time. That was super rough. Jay Ellis women shoes time long My dad was in the service, so I went to 12 schools in 13 years. Jay Ellis schools service dad years I like to be fulfilled in telling stories and in creating, but I'm just a curious person. Jay Ellis person just like curious I love to study people and pick apart what makes a person or character who they are. I never want to get complacent in that. Jay Ellis never love character people Young women who come to Rise every weekend range from ages 15-19 years if they're in school and 19-24 years if they're out of school. These empowered young women talk about protecting themselves, their friends and communities and how they can educate people to help break the stigma surrounding AIDS. Jay Ellis friends women people school There are tons of talented people out there, and we just don't get a chance to get into this system. I want to be a part of that. I want to help these young, diverse, unique voices tell stories. Jay Ellis chance unique want people I want to create this pool of talent to draw from, and I hope that people get inspired to make more web series and bring them to me to help develop. Jay Ellis me talent hope people I had a journalist slap me, and it wasn't anyone that I had ever met before. I was at the airport. Jay Ellis airport before me slap I read the script first to get the perspective on the whole story, the writing, and how the character I'm auditioning for is talked about by other people or relates to other people; from there, I go into the sides. Jay Ellis perspective writing character people I run the material, always with two people, sometimes three. We all see things so differently, so to get a couple of people's perspectives on what I'm doing and the material itself is insanely helpful for honing in on what to take into the audition room. Jay Ellis doing see sometimes people Agents run a business, and their business is their talent; some are more general and broad and can rep a little bit of everything; some are more niche. You have to be specific with who you approach and how. Jay Ellis everything you talent business I auditioned for Lamorne Morris' part, Winston, on 'New Girl.' In the scene, the character was eating a mayonnaise sandwich. I thought, 'Nobody else is going to go into the audition eating, and this is how I'm gonna set myself apart.' Jay Ellis myself girl eating character I love the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.' I love everybody. I loved every single person in the Cosby house, I loved every single person who went to Hillman. Jay Ellis loved person house love
