“My mother is quite a woman. She would push me, and when I got tired of her pushi…” — Laurence Fishburne

I didn't want to be a big star. I wanted to be a really good actor.

I didn't have much of a childhood, but that's O.K. I have a livelihood.

When I first read 'Boyz,' I cried. It could have been about some kids in Warsaw, Poland. I knew it was good, but I had no idea what it would do to me.

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.