My mother was a failed actress, but that was our bread and butter - what we loved most to do was to go to the theater and talk about it and dissect it and understand it.

Now I have a third must-do on my list of things to do with cancer, and it's this: follow your gut, ask questions, don't be complacent.

Unlike me, a lot of child actors are very short, which is why they work. So when they're 15 they can play 11 or when they're 18 they can play 14. They look young for so long, they have abilities a much younger kid wouldn't have.

I'm a very big public school advocate.

What is wonderful to see is how incredibly affectionate and physically affectionate Nancy Reagan was, you know? She was so on her guard, she was threatened by just about everybody.

I used to just take every job that seemed relatively appealing. But now I take a job and it's in the trades the next day - it feels like people are watching and waiting to see what you do, and when you do take a job, attention is noted.

Nancy Reagan sort of downplayed that, you know - but she was quite successful. At the time she married Ronald Reagan, I think she was keenly aware that [Reagan's first wife] Jane Wyman's career had eclipsed Ronald Reagan's, so she was very determined not to have that happen.