Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle Jr. is an American actor, writer, producer, and director. He had an early role in Hamburger Hill, before building his career in the 1990s with performances in Devil in a Blue Dress, Rosewoodand Boogie Nights. He started a collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh that resulted in the films Out of Sight, Trafficand Ocean's Eleven. Other films include The Rat Pack, Things Behind the Sun, Swordfish, Crash, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Reign Over Me, Talk to Me,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth29 November 1964
CityKansas City, MO
CountryUnited States of America
And it's not just black people. That's the other thing about this issue, it's conflated with just black and white and it's not that at all. It's diversity, it's something that looks more like the landscape of the country. And it's not about then we get the statues we deserve, it's not that. It's that everyone should be able to participate in this silly contest, which is how I feel about it.
I imagine it was much different in the 1970s. That was the Renaissance for black actors, albeit in blaxploitation movies. There was a much greater preponderance of work then than there is now.
I want to see somebody go to jail over the financial crisis and not just black, brown and poor whites over humbles and minor drug beefs.
So often when Black men have to play roles on TV, we're either the noble savage or we're completely a savage, and there's no nuance.
We're always trailing, as far as the amount of roles that are written for us and the films that are being made that have black characters in them. I don't know if that's going to change.
Just from him doing the things that he knew how to do, moment to moment -- it's not some mythic figure. It's just a common, everyday man. And I think that's what people are connecting to.
Please keep it up, don't drop it. This was the scene ... that really made me want to do the movie.
No, it's not comfortable; I hate watching myself. You don't like when you hear your voice on your voicemail; imagine having to see yourself 30 feet wide and 30 feet big.
If people in this country think of Africa as a place with kids and flies swarming around their heads, then they won't understand that these people are you and you are them.
For me, it's always just been about finding material that I think is creative and interesting and fun and something that can expand me and that I can hopefully do something with.
The process changes slightly from role to role. Obviously, there are different things you're called on to do. You're not digging deep for Basher Tarr like I was for Paul Rusesabagina, but at the end of the day it's still all make-believe and you still are trying as realistically as you can to depict these characters.
We believe that it really celebrates the definition of what an ensemble is all about. I mean there's 74 of us.
I don't believe that the U.S. needs to take a police role. I think it needs to support African nations that have said they want to become a part of the solution.
We cannot stand here in a free society, proclaiming that we care about human life, and do nothing in the face of this, in my opinion,