The western has always been, for me, the bread and butter. It's the easiest place for an identifiable Native American to be able to work. But I do yearn to be known as an actor rather than a 'Native American actor.'
Interpretation
Wes Studi reflects on his identity as a Native American actor and desires to be recognized purely for his acting talent.
In this quote, Wes Studi expresses the duality of his experience in the film industry as a Native American actor. While he acknowledges that Western films have provided him stable opportunities, he yearns for a broader recognition that transcends ethnic labeling, aspiring to be celebrated solely for his skills and contributions to the art of acting, rather than being defined by his heritage.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about diversity in Hollywood.
The dimensions of a work of art are seldom realized by the author until the work is accomplished. It is like a flowering dream. Ideas grow, budding silently, and there are a thousand illuminations coming day by day as the work progresses. A seed grows in writing as in nature. The seed of the idea is developed by both labor and the unconscious, and the struggle that goes on between them.
All the great works of art, the cathedrals - the Gothic cathedrals and the splendid Baroque churches - are a luminous sign of God, and thus are truly a manifestation, an epiphany of God.
Not all poetry wants to be storytelling. And not all storytelling wants to be poetry. But great storytellers and great poets share something in common: They had something to say, and did.
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
A friend of my mother's, Irene Lopez, was a Spanish dancer. She saw me bopping around the room and said to my mother, 'Rosita might have talent. Can I take her to my dance teacher?' There was no thought of a career at that time, but I knew I loved the attention, and that's so much a part of being a performer.
Now I realize that from '72 through to about '76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn't have been more rock star.
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