Laurence Fishburne Quotes

"For the last six months people have been coming up to me and saying, `I loved you in Pulp Fiction, Mr. Jackson.`" (1996)

"I`ve played a lot of bad guys, `cause that was the only work I could get. People saw my face and went `oooh`."

"I play characters. I don`t think I really have a persona per se. I don`t play the same guy every time. I show up, you don`t know what I`m gonna do. I like it that way. I`ve intentionally tried to do it that way. I think that`s what`s interesting."

"I don`t believe in acting teachers for me."

(On why he didn`t read the complete play of "Othello" before acting in the film version in which more than half of the dialogue was cut:) "Why should I read all those words that I`m not going to get to say?"

You know, whatever happens between the two of us that`s created when we come together as actors is not something I think we can explain.

It`s funny, a lot of people think I take myself seriously because I come off so serious sometimes. But it`s not that I take myself seriously, I take what I do seriously. I came up around people who took acting seriously, who cared about acting, cared about the theater and, in the `70s, made movies that said something that mattered. I came up with those people, and I was a kid. Their ethos and credo became mine.

I think of myself as being a relatively intelligent man who is open to a lot of different things and I think that questioning our purpose in life and the meaning of existence is something that we all go through at some point.

I certainly believe that being in contact with one`s spirit and nurturing one`s spirit is as important as nurturing one`s body and mind. We are three dimensional beings: body, mind, spirit.

I think everyone is very surprised at how `Matrix` has become the pop culture phenomenon that it is.

Mine were informal mentors. They were all in my working life.

Special effects are characters. Special effects are essential elements. Just because you can`t see them doesn`t mean they aren`t there.