Mackie: "So I feel like success is opportunity plus preparation, so work begets work, and as long as you're prepared it's going to continue to come your way."

Mackie: "The stage is my first love."

Mackie: "I went to school and made good grades and went to college. So I was afforded an opportunity through my parents' hard work that most people don't have."

Mackie: "There are a lot of limitations and stigmas that are placed on young actors, specifically young black actors."

Mackie: "Acting is the only medium were people think they can just stand up and do it because they can say lines, but that is not so much the case. You have to study styles and techniques."

Mackie: "Every time I get mad, I grab my hammer and make a bookshelf or something."

Mackie: "I was raised with a sense of entrepreneurship - my father owned a roofing business, and I grew up with the idea that you never want someone telling you what you can and cannot do."

Mackie: "With all the movies I've done, I still get recognized from my episode of 'Law & Order' more than anything else. It never fails."

Mackie: "The choices that we make through our lives, the people who intersect us on our path kind of change what our fated destiny is. So some of us are lucky enough for the choices that we make to keep us on our path."

Mackie: "Money always changes the game, when you let a dollar come between you and your friends, your cohorts."

Mackie: "In New Orleans, where I'm from, the average household income, with two working parents, two kids, a dog and a little fence is $16,000 a year, so $15,000 for a movie sounds pretty good."

Mackie: "If everyone invested in the neighborhood they lived in, the United States would be a magical place."

Mackie: "Do you want to be an actor, or do you want to be a celebrity? I made that decision when I went to Juilliard. I wanted to be an actor. So, if I get the opportunity to be an actor and do some cool, fun and interesting projects, I'm going to do that."

Mackie: "If the acting don't work out, I'll have a future in construction."