I could have easily been too afraid to say 'yes' to Chicago, because it requires so much I haven't done before. If I am a flop at singing and dancing, maybe my love for it will carry me through.

I mean, I grew up in the Valley. All my friends were white Jewish kids. So the Latino kids thought I was this white girl.

Sometimes I worry more about losing weight than gaining weight, because this is how people know and accept me. I do feel like if I wanted to get in better shape, there might be a backlash of, Why isn't she comfortable with herself anymore? So I try to figure out what my own goals are.

Sometimes I worry more about losing weight than gaining weight, because this is how people know and accept me.

It would be impossible to be a woman in Western culture and not have your own issues about your image and what you look like.

I was an open, smiley and gregarious child. I could make friends in 30 seconds wherever I went.

I think the body image thing, everybody can identify with that. In our culture there's just so much pressure and so much attention placed on the way we look. You just turn on the TV or flip open a magazine and there's people who don't look like any of us. I think this movie is like, finally, a celebration of reality and of our imperfections. We're not all a size 2 and we're not all a size 0, and you know what? That's OK, because some of us like to eat!