I hated school right away. Religion had a lot to do with it because I felt like everybody was always lying to me.

My dad was more, "Let's play chess. Read a book, you're stupid." He's more the intellectual type.

The Dewey decimal system really works. So that's all I needed to know. Elementary school taught me that.

I was born in Texas and I lived there 'till I was 8. Then I moved to the Dominican Republic with my mom, lived there for two years and forgot every word of English I knew.

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

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.

I don't want people thinking of me sexually. I don't want people to be like, 'She's hot-looking,' you know? I want them to listen to me for what I am saying. And I think the best way to do that is to sniff my armpits, and like, sit and burp every now and then. It just completely throws people off. I had a couple of offers to do some hot scenes in the shower with some guy and to make it real hot and sexy. The next thing you know, I'd be the next J.Lo or something. But that's easy. I want it the hard way.