Keith Stanfield Quotes

I've been fortunate to get involved with 'Short Term 12.' I was just a young teenager on the Internet, clicking on anything that had the word 'actor' in it. One day, someone called me in for a movie audition.

My focus is anything that allows me to express myself. Rap, dance, photography. Those are my forms of expression.

Although rap is about boasting, it's also about honesty and expressing your emotions.

Victorville gave me opportunity to go inside and explore my imagination a bit.

Some people look like they're lost causes, but they're not. Even if they're in a messed up situation, the one little thing you do to help can go a long way.

I love 'Watch the Throne,' because Kanye was acting so ratchet.

I grew up very poor in a fractured family that was dysfunctional on both sides, but I sort of put up these reflectors to most of the negative things that have occurred in my life. I don't carry around much baggage.

We used to do sock puppet shows for my auntie back in the day. Me and my friends would do accents of Englishmen, and we would sip tea and act like we were rich in front of the family, and they thought it was just hilarious, the level of perception that we had about things that we'd never experienced.

I'm from Victorville - it's about an hour-and-a-half away from Los Angeles, up in the desert. They call it Victimville because it's kind of violent. It's a beautiful place, though. It's quiet.

I write poetry, and I put it to a beat - I mean, that's what they call rap.

My biggest strength is I'm courageous, or if I am afraid of something, I do it anyway. I do what I feel. It's nothing personal against anyone, so that courageousness has been very good to me.

The prison industrial system, things like that are cleverly put in place to attempt to marginalize a certain group of people - and it's not only black, it's replete across the American society.

Music is something I do full-time in real life. I was doing music long before I was even thinking about acting.

For me, life is like an act within itself. Everything I do is an act. Where I'm going is an act.

Hip-hop is not all '2 Chainz' - although '2 Chainz' is awesome. How he does that with metaphors, I don't know.

I want to be in some Willy Wonka-type weird stuff, a role where I'm an alien. Anything that's new and challenging and real. I like real stuff.

I'm in this music duo called Moors.

My two little twin brothers have autism, so I grew up around it and misunderstood it for a long time.

I was born in San Bernardino in summer of '91 and grew up in Riverside, San Bernardino, and Victorville.

That was like my safe place with great teachers where everyone could let down their guard and not feel judged. As soon as we walk outside, it was like, 'Look at these weird drama club kids.' But we all had our own agreement that we were cool in our own way.