Growing up I wanted to be a mixture of Audrey Hepburn and Lucille Ball. Apparently I told my mum when I was eight that I wanted to be an actor.

It's really sad looking at people like Lindsay Lohan. She's an amazing actress, but you see what happens when people know too much about your personal life. They start not being able to look at you the same way professionally. I don't want that to happen to me.

I never solicited myself as a singer until I realized I could use that to a musical standpoint. I loved musicals growing up. Classic films were some of the only ones I watched. So when the opportunity came for the show to audition, of course it was all of a sudden, "I sing! I sing! Send me in, please. I beg of you."

I think that as an artist, the more that you can do to diversify, and kind of challenge yourself, the more you grow.

With every job I've gotten, I've bought myself something. When 'Glee' was picked up, I rented a piano for the year. For smaller victories, I'll go to dinner with a friend, or go for a walk and think about it all. It's important to say to yourself, Today was a good day.

Sometimes, you can incorporate things that you've experienced in your life and use that. And, other times, you just know what that feeling of hurt, love, anger and depression is, and you do whatever it takes to get there in your mind, and use it to your advantage, whichever way it works best.

Life isn't always smooth sailing and sometimes you're afraid of hurting somebody's feelings, or anything, but I think that the truer you can be to yourself the more you're going to kind of open your horizons to a really beautiful relationship.