Jesse Williams Quotes

I like to take credit for the work that I have done.

I thought that if acting didn't work out, I'd have done law school or medical school: probably law to be honest.

Coming from New York, you're kind of indoctrinated with anti-L.A. sentiment, but California is just a really dope state.

You have to be up-front from the very beginning about what your expectations of the other person are, and you can't make any promises you don't intend to keep.

It was very important to me to be with a woman who is better than me at some things. You want someone who brings new, interesting things into your life.

I'm kind of in a middle space, being marketed as a biracial actor. Roles are written either stereotypically black, or they're written 'normal,' which is just code for white.

As an actor, you want to be able to move your character forward into new ground, but also it's really interesting to go backwards and unpeel those layers and the interesting elements of what your character is and what informs the decisions that you make so that you can have as much meat to work with.

There's so much material out there that's unnecessarily racist. It takes a shot at what is 'urban' or demonstrates blackness with some sassy, neck-jiving character that's not even relevant to the plot. I see it time and time again, and it doesn't move the story forward. It just kind of cryogenically freezes us in this old racial paradigm.

Storytelling is based on the word, being an honorable person of integrity is based on your word.

I'm very grateful and fully aware that 90 percent of actors are not working. Going from public school teacher to a show like 'Grey's Anatomy', I love what I do.