My mom was really busy when I was growing up, but she did a really good job in terms of balancing her home life with her professional life. She basically took me everywhere.

I wasn't even a theater kid in high school. I studied classical piano, and I ran track.

I think even when I was little there was signs that I was an artist. I've always been an artist.

I prefer theater and film. I did a little television, and obviously I'm not knocking it. It can be great, and it does pay the bills. But it's a little bit more disjointed.

I've realized that a lot of people go to see film or theater with a different expectation. I have a friend who's an actor and I can't stand watching movies with him because he never quite allows himself to just watch the story. He'll comment on the lighting, he'll comment on the [camera] angle. I'm not saying there's a wrong way to watch it - maybe that's helpful to him - but to me, you're getting way too caught up in the technical aspects.

The directors were often really nice and I was well behaved, so I would just sit there in rehearsal. That allowed me to see the process - not just the result, the red carpet, all of the wonderful, fun things that happen afterwards - the nuts and bolts, the nitty-gritty, "Let's try to build this character from the page," tech rehearsals.

My thing is that if you don't really connect to something or see that it's going to be something you're going to be proud of, I wouldn't do it.