"I've never taken myself too seriously"
About this Quote
There is a quiet flex in saying you have not taken yourself too seriously, especially in a business designed to inflate egos on demand. Omar Epps is signaling a survival strategy: in Hollywood, self-mythology is currency, but it also becomes a trap. The line reads like humility, yet the subtext is control. If you refuse to be consumed by your own hype, you keep leverage over the roles you take, the way you’re perceived, and the inevitable career peaks and valleys.
Epps built a career on characters who carry authority without swagger: the steady presence in Love & Basketball, the morally complicated competence of House. That body of work makes the quote feel earned rather than performative. He’s not disavowing ambition; he’s distancing himself from the brittle kind of seriousness that mistakes attention for importance. It’s a subtle rebuttal to an industry that rewards branding over craft and to a culture that turns actors into memes, hot takes, or cautionary tales overnight.
The phrasing matters. “Never” is absolute, almost teasing, like he’s puncturing the expectation that success requires a cultivated aura of gravitas. “Taken myself” centers agency: the point isn’t that others didn’t take him seriously, it’s that he chose not to treat his own image as sacred. The intent is disarming, but it also draws a boundary: respect the work, not the mythology. In 2026 terms, it’s an antidote to main-character syndrome, delivered with the low-key confidence of someone who’s lasted.
Epps built a career on characters who carry authority without swagger: the steady presence in Love & Basketball, the morally complicated competence of House. That body of work makes the quote feel earned rather than performative. He’s not disavowing ambition; he’s distancing himself from the brittle kind of seriousness that mistakes attention for importance. It’s a subtle rebuttal to an industry that rewards branding over craft and to a culture that turns actors into memes, hot takes, or cautionary tales overnight.
The phrasing matters. “Never” is absolute, almost teasing, like he’s puncturing the expectation that success requires a cultivated aura of gravitas. “Taken myself” centers agency: the point isn’t that others didn’t take him seriously, it’s that he chose not to treat his own image as sacred. The intent is disarming, but it also draws a boundary: respect the work, not the mythology. In 2026 terms, it’s an antidote to main-character syndrome, delivered with the low-key confidence of someone who’s lasted.
Quote Details
| Topic | Humility |
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