I was really lucky. I had a really great opportunity. I went to an all girls, very small private school from seventh grade all the way to graduating. It was so wonderful because the focus was school at school...and during the week I could be that nerdy bookworm of a girl, and do six hours of homework at night.

When I'm talking about a developing world, I also look at clean-water access - women who are more vulnerable to sexual violence when they're fetching water. And talking about what we have going on here, with our carbon footprints and our emissions, is just as important to me as figuring out how to provide clean water to people who need it in regions around the world.

People like to say, “Well, you’re a celebrity. You should really pick a cause.” I felt that’s like telling a doctor, “Well, you should focus on one area of the body.” Current issues, global issues, political issues, women’s issues—whatever one you want to talk about. It’s systemic, you know?

I'm not a celebrity. I don't call myself a celebrity. I'm an actor.

I have walked away from friendships when I've realized that someone smiles to someone's face and talks about them the minute they walk out of a room. I have no room in my life for that kind of negative energy anymore.

I don't care what the press is about a person that I'm working with. I care about how they come to work every day. I don't care who broke up with who or who is sleeping with who or who went out where. I don't care what you do with your personal life. It's when people take their personal lives into a space where it affects their performance at work, that's when I would stop taking someone seriously.

In the initial season of a show, you're figuring out your character and their life and their background and you're putting together all the chapters of the book.