Anthony Mackie took over Uptown Magazine in a retro style photoshoot spread. Inside the mag, actor talks about being just an ordinary, his acting career and first love as well as his legacy.
Read the highlights below and go to UPTOWN for the full interview.

On being ordinary:
“I think that’s my niche. Average guy. If your car breaks down, I’m your guy. If you need a heartthrob, I’m not your guy. I’m dead serious.”

On fame:
“There’s a difference between being a working actor and being a celebrity … If you’re in this field you have to ask yourself that in the beginning and be honest with yourself. If you want to be a celebrity go after that 100 percent. If you want to be a working actor, it may mean doing a play that no one sees, but you love the craft.”

On buying the hype:
“Everybody was like ‘This is it, dog, you’re blowing up. I bought into it thinking that my ‘Denzel time’ had come. I was left there with egg on my face.”

On being recognized for his craft:
“Sometimes recognition and accolades and possessions aren’t exactly the gravy on the mash potatoes. Sometimes that’s the stuff that comes when it comes. If it doesn’t come, I’m not upset about it because that’s not what I’m looking for.”

On his first love, theater:
“It’s instant gratification. I know now that in certain aspects of my life, I’m a whore for attention. I love to be on stage … and I love to say something and hear the audience respond. It’s a drug.”

On catching the acting bug:
“I was reading and doing stuff that nobody else in school was. I’m in ninth grade reading Chekhov, Ibsen, and Shakespeare. I was doing plays downtown. It was fun.”

On his legacy:
“I love where I am right now. If I grow up to be Don Cheadle, I’m very happy with that.”