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Quote by Mahershala Ali

“I've personally been on the outside sometimes. But I was - I personally was never persecuted especially in the way in which sharing my own experiences.”

Quote by Mahershala Ali

Author

Mahershala Ali, born on February 16, 1974, is an accomplished actor from the United States. Known for his exceptional performances in both film and television, Ali gained widespread recognition and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in 'Moonlight' and 'Green Book'. more

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“I know there were periods of times where I didn't feel understood, and there were very few people around me that I felt like they really got me. There was one person who was sort of the one in my life that really got me.In general, I felt a little bit on the outside and not totally included. There was a period of time when we were moving around a lot. So I couldn't really hold on to a certain set of friends. And so that was a little bit difficult.”

People Knows Feels Littles Persons Moving Certain Felt Bits Difficult Periods Little Bit Understood

Author:Mahershala Ali

“My experiences growing up - my father lived in New York, so I was going out there in the summers and meeting really interesting people and people having what seemed to me to be extraordinary experiences and really taking advantage of these wonderful opportunities. And so I will go - I would go to the big city and watch these people performing onstage and doing television and films. And then I would go back to Hayward, and it just suddenly felt that much smaller and sort of limiting because I had this hyper awareness of how much larger the world was.”

“I think in some ways, I would go back home, and I didn't really quite fit in and couldn't - didn't have a person to bounce those experiences off of. So I felt a little bit trapped within me, and it made me feel lonely because I really couldn't - the things that were exciting to me, I couldn't really share those with another kid and that other kid understand that.”

Thinking Way Feels Littles Persons Made Home Kids Felt Bits Share Fit Little Bit Lonely Exciting Trapped Back Home Bounce Feeling Lonely

Author:Mahershala Ali

“My parents were kids when I was born. My mother was 16. My father was 17, and they got married in high school. And they split a few years later. When they split was when all that was happening also, and he - they were just coming into themselves. But they remained friends.”

Years Kids School Mother Father Parent Born Married Happenings High School Splits

Author:Mahershala Ali

“My dad moved to New York after he won "Soul Train" and the car and got settled in out there and was able to step right into Dance Theatre of Harlem and felt like he was in a show called "Omnibus" and "American Dance Machine."”

Soul Shows Able Felt Steps Car New York Dad Machines Moved Train My Dad Theatre Harlem Soul Train

Author:Mahershala Ali

“[My grandmother] was the assistant pastor at Palma Ceia Baptist Church in Hayward - my grandmother, Evie Goines. And so my mother was doing - I remember when my mother graduated from beauty college, so I was about 5, and so I guess she was about 21. And I just remember being there, taking the pictures and seeing her get her diploma and everything. But she was doing hair for many years. during that time, she kind of started to discover or tap into her religious studies. It was around the time I was starting to go through puberty and hitting, like, 12, 13.”

“As a kid, you're starting to grow up and want more freedoms. But if you have people who are absorbing and adopting religious principles and teachings, they start drawing these lines and creating confines in their life to live within certain lines.”

People Ifs Want Kids Certain Grows Religious Lines Principles Growing Up Teaching Creating Starting Drawing Absorbing Adopting

Author:Mahershala Ali

“There was things just like not being able to date or - I'm talking like 15, 16 - like just certain things that my friends started to do. Like, they started to get phone calls from girls or like, you know, go and hang out 10, 11 at night, kind of going to the movies. There were just certain things that - it's not that I couldn't do all of those things. It's just that every choice was really deliberate and conscious and thought out and sort of balanced against the religion in a way where I felt - I wasn't necessarily trying to convert at 12 like [my mother] was.”

Knows Way Trying Kind Able Mother Night Certain Choices Girl Felt Talking Like You Conscious My Friends Phones Hanging Out Balanced Deliberate Phone Calls

Author:Mahershala Ali

“It felt like it disrupted my rhythm in growing up. But I will say that I'm really grateful for [my mother's] own personal transition.”

Mother Felt Growing Up Growing Grateful Rhythm Transition

Author:Mahershala Ali

“The freedom that I wanted as a kid would - probably would not have been good for me and not in the way in which I wanted it.”

Way Has Beens Kids Wanted

Author:Mahershala Ali