My grandmother was born in 1900, and she would regale me with tales I call 'Little House on the Prairie' tales, but they were tales of segregated and racist America growing up in Alabama and Mississippi, where she came from.

When I was a kid, I wanted to walk with my dad's limp - my dad was my hero - but that infuriated him, and he would make me walk back and forth in the living room until I walked without it.

America is grappling with cultural diversity, and I just want to put a show on that represents the world in which I live.

As I get older, my sense of humor is my biggest asset.

Don't let anyone try to tell you who you are. Define yourself.

I try to make my bed every day for mental health. Coming home to an unmade bed or a room with clothes all over will depress me.

Be talented enough to make it and stupid enough to keep trying.

'Dancing With the Stars' is so Middle America, and people take it so seriously.

Every little kid has always wanted to be a race car driver. This gets some of that out.

I couldn't wait to be, you know, a Black Panther. Of course they wouldn't let me join.

I decided sitcoms weren't for me.

I grew up in a home and in a world in which you can do anything. We were all expected to go to college. My father was a doctor.

I had done the sitcom thing to lesser and lesser degrees of success.

I never wanted to lose out on an acting job and wonder if I hadn't been trained enough.

I started acting at the University of Michigan in my sophomore year.

I think Chelsea Handler is the funniest woman.

I want to see gay couples stuck with their significant other at Home Depot with that far away look in their eye, get me out of here.

I wanted something where I could have the clearest and most unfiltered artistic and creative voice.

I wanted to be a leading man - the black lawyer, the black doctor, the black policeman.

I've tried actively to define myself and redefine myself, and not be pigeonholed.