Michael Emerson

I used to make training films for the U.S. government. I was always cast as a madman or a prisoner. I once…

— Michael Emerson

Call-and-response style, yes, exactly. So whenever different groups get together then there has to be this long period of negotiation. How will…

— Michael Emerson

Every pastor I talk to says, and particularly if they're African American they'll say, "I'm not black enough for African Americans. I'm…

— Michael Emerson

So different groups have different definitions, and then they clash on those. So it takes adept leadership to say we're going to…

— Michael Emerson

We've had people say, "Now when I go to work, I don't feel uncomfortable talking to people of different races, and I…

— Michael Emerson

I see this in the way that sermons are preached. How would you give a Black Nationalist speech or campaign for the…

— Michael Emerson

In part because they had no choice, right? If you were a slave, you did what the master said. And they said…

— Michael Emerson

Absolutely, although every congregation will say, you know, every worship leader will say it's vital. It's very important, but again these are,…

— Michael Emerson

I have to conclude, oh, the best people are all somebody other than my own race. So that's difficult. How do we…

— Michael Emerson

And different traditions stress different - so then there's that. I talked to an African American who says before she goes into…

— Michael Emerson

If you move here from somewhere else, I often think if I move to Germany, for example, or if I move China…

— Michael Emerson

It may be changing, but still it's the one place, that total control of an institution, that African Americans have. So sometimes,…

— Michael Emerson

We do not have an American culture. We have a white American culture and a black American culture. So when those two…

— Michael Emerson

We just say there are five, you know, racial groups in the US. I say that these folks are what we call…

— Michael Emerson

It happens a little bit more in the West, where there's more fluid - where everybody's originally from somewhere else. So they…

— Michael Emerson

There's one denomination in particular, though, that has pushed very hard to be multiracial in its denomination - not only its denomination…

— Michael Emerson

Jack Bender is a real actor's director. Because he was an actor, and because he directed theater, he really enjoys that process.

— Michael Emerson

I liked the scenes with the baby, but the baby steals all the scenes that you're in. So that would get old…

— Michael Emerson

And sometimes the clergy are blindsided by that. Other times they realize that ahead of time and say they're not going to…

— Michael Emerson

I see it happen in uniracial congregations all the time. But people - when they're in mixed company, we speak differently.

— Michael Emerson

I'd really like to play a character who's inarticulate. I always play people with language. It would be good to play a…

— Michael Emerson

Yeah, it's funny, working on a show with as large a cast as we have here, your work gets sort of compartmentalized.…

— Michael Emerson

Then of course there are bigger things that matter, like who do I see up there in the congregation? Do I see…

— Michael Emerson

There's always that sense of because we're so racially defined, if you're trying to cross the boundaries you don't fit into any…

— Michael Emerson

I think it's easier, I really do, because of not having that similar history, so that's why I think two-thirds of these…

— Michael Emerson

The 'Lost' style book is really quite set. We do things like, we walk through the jungle, and we stop and turn…

— Michael Emerson

I really do think that every time you play a role well, you are in danger of being identified with that role…

— Michael Emerson

I had started out my grown-up life in New York City, but I couldn't figure out how to be an actor there.…

— Michael Emerson

It worries me a little bit the reach and power of TV. More people saw me in The Practice than will ever…

— Michael Emerson

In your actor's heart, you know when you're playing well. Others may not always agree with you, but I'm always aware of…

— Michael Emerson

It was an all-white church. It was starting to decline. They had to hire a new pastor, and they hired him. But…

— Michael Emerson

I mean, so if I've talked to whites in City of Refuge, sometimes they'll wonder, "Why do we do things a certain…

— Michael Emerson

I spent a lot of time developing in books why worshipping separately actually impacts inequality, economic, social, on and on. So I…

— Michael Emerson

Once in a while you get people that maybe because of economic reasons, or have a social network, they get attracted. But…

— Michael Emerson

What happens is sometimes these congregations will still have the white style of worship, even though they're mixed, because folks are willing…

— Michael Emerson

We go where our family goes. We go where our friends are, and because our social networks are so segregated by race,…

— Michael Emerson

But in the US, when you have two separate cultures, each with its right, each of which has come to exist in…

— Michael Emerson

There are roles that are terrifying because they're large or you may feel that they're out of your line, but I'm never…

— Michael Emerson

We've done a lot of studies to see when they do happen, why, and I mean there's a variety of reasons. But…

— Michael Emerson

It's one of the things we find in these congregations is that they are much more likely to be sort of up-beat…

— Michael Emerson