My twin sister, my cousin, and I used to write and perform plays for my family. We raided the closets for costumes and fought over parts. I'm sure I was the bossiest one.

In terms of American Horror Story and Nashville, what attracted me to those, and Friday Night Lights, for that matter, is that they felt like something innovative and something that we hadn't seen before. As an actor, that's exciting.

I grew up singing. My mother was a music teacher.

There's something about Southern women that is so unique yet so universal. Strong southern women are allowed to be soft and feminine and have a sense of humor. But what I love about Southern women in particular is their universality.

There are so many women out there who are single moms, really not by choice, and doing it and making it work every day. I think it's becoming much more a part of our culture and I hope that it will become more accepted and that those women are going to be more and more appreciated, respected and supported.

My life started being awesome five years ago.

The thing about taking risks is, if it’s really a risk, you really can fail. It’s only a pretend risk if you really can’t fail.