The way I survived growing up in Jersey City was by being funny. It wasn't by being tough. Nobody thought of me as a tough kid, except for the kids I beat up.

I do have a delicate side.

We all have our moments. But you can switch it around. Then you've got the activist type who bases their decisions in the development of a character on what it symbolizes to society - what the ethical code is.

The roughest thing was learning the realities of the world at such a young age. I was 10 or 11, going to church, hearing the adults standing on the podium talking about world affairs, about history, about war, and how America was founded.

I just love feeling myself, and moving, flexing, jumping, expressing, dancing and doing movement. I'm in tune with it. I like to express myself with my body, more so than intellectually. But, I am a geek.

At school, I was this tomboy kid who just loved to hang out with her friends and learn curse words, trying to fit in with the cool kids and defending all the kids who got picked on.

There's only a handful of directors who really understand what I call the alchemical balance between a man and a woman, in a woman's body, which most people consider the strong woman character.