When I was little, like Maleficent, I was told that I was different - and I felt out of place, and too loud, too full of fire, never good at sitting still, never good at fitting in. And then one day I realized something, something I hope you all realize. Different is good.

I'm trying to find things that are extremely challenging or mean something to me deeply.

I was the punk outsider who nobody messed with. I was fearless. At 16, I graduated and moved out.

I realized that very young - that a life where you don't live to your full potential, or you don't experiment, or you're afraid, or you hesitate, or there are things you know you should do but you just don't get around to them, is a life that I'd be miserable living, and the only way to feel that I'm on the right path is just to be true to myself, whatever that may be, and that tends to come with stepping out of something that's maybe safe or traditional.

It is not where you start out in life that counts the most, it is how you choose to face it.

Actors spend a great deal of their time making films. And that doesn't mean that they're not educated. But we haven't gone to law school and we're not experts on policy. We're just people with a platform and an opinion. But that should never be enough, in my opinion, to be political.

If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you're solid, and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion