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 don't have much history - I've got Rosie Perez, Jennifer Lopez, Rita Moreno. That's it. That's the history of Latin women in Hollywood, really.

I went to business school but left after four months because I just didn't want to be a puppet of society, stuck in an office, craving some sunlight.

Going to car racing school was phenomenal.

I knew nothing about the independent film industry. I didn't know much about the industry itself. All I knew was how to watch movies, how to enjoy them, how to hate them, how not to like them.

When I was about 11, 12, we moved to Jersey City. Everywhere I go I'm an outsider.

Maybe I exclude myself from that genre by not getting dressed up often enough, by acting ghetto most of the time, and running around in sweats and Timberlands.