I dont see myself only as a Somali character. I think of myself as an actor, and if the job fits me and I like the story, I will go for it.

I left Somalia when I was seven years old, but I witnessed a whole year in a war.

I just want to keep acting and better my craft and see how far it goes.

It is weird. A lot of people try to ask me political questions. Im not a politician.

I was lucky enough to have parents that took me out from country to country and go to school and learn how to be a better person.

The line was originally, ‘Captain Phillips, get a load of me: fancy-free on the seven seas,’ but I ad-libbed.

When you work with a great director, you realise you are far from being a director.

The quality of time you dedicate to work is what determines your greatness.

It is much more rewarding to get to the top of the mountain and share your experience with others than to show up by yourself, exausted.

It must have been an endless breathing in: between the wish to know and the wish to praise there was no seam.

As a director, there is nothing more fun than seeing an audience screaming and jumping. You are the ultimate puppet master, controlling the emotions of the audience.

I'm not psycho... I just like psychotic things.

It is foolish to pretend that one is fully recovered from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar.

To reach your own goals and dreams, you must learn how to assist others in reaching theirs

And more so now, since having a family - I don't seek out any other acceptance.

I'maa tell you right now as an experience, dammit, I'm going to enjoy that one as much as I hate to admit it.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quack like a duck, then it just may be a duck.