I was happy to kind of always scoot under the radar.

We live in a cynical world now, and it's nice to be part of entertainment that is hopeful and heartfelt and wears its heart on its sleeve, but isn't saccharine. It's real. It's grounded.

My mom has never been a big meddler and isn't like extremely opinionated or at least just doesn't voice it to me. She's sort of let me come into my own by myself and I think that's just a testament to what my parents did in terms of raising us.

I've had the opportunity to play the drug dealer who gets gang-raped, and I'm like, "For what reason? Doing it just to do it? To just show people that I can be sexy or dark?" I don't want to do something just to make that point. It needs to happen organically, and I'm really confident it will. I'm a pretty patient person, and I'll wait until we find the right stuff.

I guess at a certain point you think, well, singing is singing and acting is acting.

Having this other career in music made me work harder as an actress. It's made me more professional.

In 2009, I traveled to South Sudan with my organization PSI. While there, I visited a local school and met with a group of children who had formed a water club. The group learned about how to treat their drinking water and use proper hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before eating or after going to the bathroom.