You pick pieces of things you've experienced in life to make it real to yourself.

When I was a kid, I always envisioned myself as performing, as being in that business. It was all that I knew, so it's kind of like I'm just following in the family tradition.

To me, my parents are my mom and dad, and we were able as kids to do a lot of cool things. Just being part of that family definitely brought out and cultivated the creative arts in us.

You pick pieces of things you've experienced in life to make it real to yourself.

We live in a melting pot. More and more, people are some kind of mixture. Even if you're Caucasian, you're a mixture of something.

It was always a funny thing when someone would ask me my name and I would say "Brooklyn." They would always think that I meant that I lived in Brooklyn, and I would have to clarify that.

I was one of the serious studiers. I'm not somebody who just shows up and gets a hundred on a test.