The only way I can be there and really get into the character is if I'm her.

I don't want to be a 'teen star' because so many people don't ever grow out of that.

My family has always called me 'Lay Lay,' and my dad used to always call me 'Dynamite Termite' because I was really short and small and I hated to be still. I would never stop.

I had to have my first kiss in front of, like, a hundred people. I didn't know what to do. So my sisters told me to, like, practice on a pillow, you know? But it didn't kiss me back so I didn't know what to expect.

I loved school. But when I started 'Party of Five' in the fifth grade, I was taken out of school and tutored on the set.

I always wanted to entertain. When I was little, I would sing in front of the mirror with a hairbrush or my sisters and I would make shows. I always wanted to be on TV.

When I was growing up I always wanted to be a waitress. My sister opened a restaurant in Mississippi, and I went down there and was a waitress for a few days. Let me tell you, I got it out of my system.