Jesse Williams Quotes

“You have to be up-front from the very beginning about what your expectations of the other person are, and you can't make any promises you don't intend to keep.”

— Jesse Williams

We often grow up being told that we can do this or that, but if you don't see anybody that looks like you doing it, you don't believe you can do it. But I had great teachers, and I wanted to be a great teacher.

— Jesse Williams

Storytelling is based on the word, being an honorable person of integrity is based on your word.

— Jesse Williams

“It was very important to me to be with a woman who is better than me at some things. You want someone who brings new, interesting things into your life.”

— Jesse Williams

“There's so much material out there that's unnecessarily racist. It takes a shot at what is 'urban' or demonstrates blackness with some sassy, neck-jiving character that's not even relevant to the plot. I see it time and time again, and it doesn't move the story forward. It just kind of cryogenically freezes us in this old racial paradigm.”

— Jesse Williams

“That's why the role that I have on 'Grey's Anatomy' is important to me, because it's a human being. He doesn't have to wear race on his sleeve; he doesn't even have to talk about it. We just lead by our actions.”

— Jesse Williams

“I'm always trying to find the next comedian that just gives me something a little funny to combine with all of the depressing news that I'm processing.”

— Jesse Williams

“I thought that if acting didn't work out, I'd have done law school or medical school: probably law to be honest.”

— Jesse Williams

“Storybooks were always a big part of my imagination, and my childhood and adolescence.”

— Jesse Williams

“I'm kind of in a middle space, being marketed as a biracial actor. Roles are written either stereotypically black, or they're written 'normal,' which is just code for white.”

— Jesse Williams

“I'm very grateful and fully aware that 90 percent of actors are not working. Going from public school teacher to a show like 'Grey's Anatomy', I love what I do.”

— Jesse Williams

“I like to take credit for the work that I have done.”

— Jesse Williams

“Coming from New York, you're kind of indoctrinated with anti-L.A. sentiment, but California is just a really dope state.”

— Jesse Williams

“I'm an athletic junkie - I play in all the celebrity all-star games, and I've become buddies with a bunch of athletes.”

— Jesse Williams

Staying true to our goals, Question Bridge as a company and as a project is not singularly about black males. One of the things I'm so excited about Question Bridge is that my vision goes far beyond black males.

— Jesse Williams

“I always find that really interesting, you know, when I get to see characters that I love in TV and film and theater around their family.”

— Jesse Williams

“I download, like, forty songs a day, I'm a big music collector and a big record collector.”

— Jesse Williams

“As an actor, you want to be able to move your character forward into new ground, but also it's really interesting to go backwards and unpeel those layers and the interesting elements of what your character is and what informs the decisions that you make so that you can have as much meat to work with.”

— Jesse Williams