IF YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING THAT TERRIFIES YOU, MOST LIKELY YOU'RE DOING THE RIGHT THING.

When people ask me what I do for a living, I always say, "I get rejected for a living." And that's true.

My parents cultured me a lot and they introduced me to a lot of artists, a lot of their friends.

My parents are artists, so I grew up with my mom having bonfires, seven guitars, and talented musicians and artists around like Jack Hirschman.

I think we, especially in American culture, are so afraid to talk about death. And I'm not talking about literal death. I'm talking about shedding skin. I'm talking about rebirth, ultimately, and how we continue to change as human beings and continue to grow. There's that great Henry Miller quote, "All growth is a leap in the dark."

I haven't had a lot of celebrities around me growing up.

I have never reached certain levels of fame, like Lindsay Lohan did, or even Brittany Murphy. My career has always been this sort of even-keeled, steady existence. I was also raised by poets, and I've been doing poetry as long as I've been acting.