The real truth is that [Harriet Tubman ] spirit is so powerful that it consumes you. I was literally reduced to basic breath and blinks while she inhabited my vessel and told her story through me.

Fatty, a bearded collie-terrier mix, is the kindest, cuddliest dog. And Oliver, a white golden retriever, even looks like me! My dogs have taught me to be more loving, more nurturing, and happier.

If you've been told all your life that you're good-looking, people just flock around you and you never really have to try or have to learn an interesting craft, skill or hobby - or even have depth.

I wouldn't make it through the day without singing. It is my solace and my meditation and my release. It lets me know how I'm processing things, what I'm processing, if I'm out of touch in some area.

America's Next Shuffle Cat contest proved to be not only entertaining, but a rare chance for me to have an opportunity to host and judge some of the nation's cutest cats as they strutted the catwalk.

Because I didn't go to drama school, I didn't start in the business with any toolbox apart from enthusiasm and instinct. I'd throw everything at a part and sometimes realise that I had hit my limits.

I'm a movie buff. My mom would take me to a double feature. We'd come out, go have Chinese food, and then go back into another cinema and see another double feature. I feel I'm a child of the movies.

Television has changed. Some feels like good old-fashioned TV, and some of it feels more filmic and more natural and more nuanced. I don't think there's any clear line any longer between film and TV.

At one point, Lucille's agent wanted to have me fired, telling her that my eyes were bigger than hers. When I head this, I told her that if I had her looks and talent, I'd keep me and fire the agent!

Harriet Tubman is the perpetuation of a "Super Soul Sunday" every day. Learning about her and the layers of her helps you to see that the same woman who holds a gun and an axe felt feelings for a man.

Jackie O was so capable in so many ways. Hillary tried to redefine the role when she got into public policy, and Michelle Obama is able to move smoothly between form and function, style and substance.

I wouldn't want to be a superstar, like Julia Roberts or Madonna, and be on the cover of 'US' magazine when I'm twenty - that's how you know you're really hot. I'd rather have a long respected career.

If I go to Germany, I learn something in addition. The German television is very precise and respectable. One has never stress. In Italy it is more dynamic. But I amuse myself madly in both countries.

Our world was Northern, black and white, so it was a great thing for my sisters and me to sit down at Christmastime and watch these fabulous MGM musicals. All that color, all those beautiful costumes.

I wouldn't want to be a superstar, like Julia Roberts or Madonna, and be on the cover of 'US' magazine when I'm twenty - that's how you know you're really hot. I'd rather have a long, respected career.

My parents didn't want me to go into show business. They were afraid of what would happen if I didn't succeed. They wanted me to get married and have babies. I never saw marriage and family in my life.

If I had not made strategic choices, I would have had far more access to dramatic roles. But the one thing I don't regret, even about bad choices, is that there's always something you can get out of it.

For me, being comfortable is the best way to express my personality. Some days I like to be chill and wear my Stan Smiths with a cool little jacket, a blouse, and some lipstick for night, and that's it.

'Kiri' reflects the society we're living in now, where everything has to be transparent and people are under so much pressure. The scrutiny is extraordinary and you really get a sense of panic emerging.

I'm not very good at watching myself. I look at it and I think, 'Oh, they've used the wrong take.' My job is over and it's not healthy to sit there and scrutinize your work as you're invariably unhappy!

I need to grow as an actor. The wonderful thing is you never stop learning, and as my only interest is trying to perfect what I do, it's wonderful because I'll never succeed, so I'll have to keep working.

Youd just be amazed what people will do. You really would. And not crazy people. Ostensibly normal people. When the right person touches the right button in someone, you can get them to do almost anything.

You'd just be amazed what people will do. You really would. And not crazy people. Ostensibly normal people. When the right person touches the right button in someone, you can get them to do almost anything.

I'm actually really lazy. I tell myself, "Okay, you work six months out of the year and you have to get up at 4 a.m. ..." I'll relish the downtime by chilling on the couch and watching my favorite TV shows.

Some women give birth and then two weeks later look amazing. I don't think I'm going to be one of those women, and I'm OK with that. I just want to be a good mom; I don't really care about having a hot bod.

Cop families have guns in their houses. It's a bigger question for mothers. When is the right time to introduce to your children the things that could hurt them? But not having the knowledge could hurt them.

You think when you start getting jobs that it'll get easier, but that's the biggest lie ever. It gets harder. You have to put in more work. I wish it were the casting couch days because it'd be a lot easier!

I'm really thrilled to kind of be a role models for my daughters, and showing them the passion about what I do, and I get to go to work and I love to go to work. That's what I saw my mom doing my whole life.

I'm a New Yorker. I was there during 9/11 and I saw how, not only New York City stopped for a moment, we all took an inhale and exhale at the same time - the world united at that time, and it changed my life.

I've always been into theater and movies. When I was in school, I did a monologue for my talent show. I would go to the local theater. I was always in dance. I was always performing. That was always my thing.

We went through a period of time when if you were of Asian descent, you would play a terrorist or you would play, you know, like, the 7-Eleven guy or you would play that. And then really watch television now.

You have Showtime, you have AMC, you have all of these, you know, incredible networks that are now bringing forth their product without the handcuffs, if you will, of trying to sell soap to the entire country.

I always saw my peers finding some cool passion, but every time I tried one of those things, it never clicked. I would leave school and go to my theater class, and that's when I'd actually sit down and listen.

Soaps are a double-edged sword. There can be prejudice from some writers and producers who feel you will lower the currency of their work if you've been in one. You have to rise above such ludicrous prejudice.

I've always had stamina. It's a genetic thing. Don't forget, I'm from the era where we played outside, so there was no issue with weight because we were out running around the fields and playing hide and seek.

I've never really seen myself as an actress. I told myself, 'I'm not going to get a job where I need to put on makeup, or one that I need to do my nails.' I hate the idea of putting on makeup, then removing it.

When you're in the military, especially if you serve, you leave in this heightened world of having adrenaline course through you, all the time. You get addicted to that because adrenaline is essentially a drug.

Very early on in this process though I studied acting in high school and college, soon after graduation, I walked away from the craft because I wanted to know that this is what I was supposed to do with my life.

It's funny, I was talking to somebody who writes for a cop show, and he was saying how they aren't allowed to acknowledge Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, just because it has to be able to play forever.

When I was young I used to smother myself with olive oil mixed with a dash of vinegar to keep the flies away and lay in the sunshine for hours on end. But we knew no better then. Now we know how stupid that was.

This is a grueling profession. Either you can't get work, or you can't get certain kinds of parts, or you get a part, and it kills you because it's not good enough, or you get successful and feel guilty about it.

I was in this sheltered little environment where, basically, all my high school experience was in 'Life Goes On,' and everyone told me where to go, what to do, how to think - I never had to do anything for myself.

I think a lot of people feel like they may not get the recognition that they deserve, but that they can still kind of maintain and do good, and there's a kind of quiet satisfaction in not being recognized for stuff.

I love Elektra. I really have a special place in my heart for her. It was very enjoyable for me to discover her and to adapt her for this project and bring myself to this character. So I have a special spot for her.

The older I get, I just don't know. But, there is absolutely that part of me that watches action shows and goes, 'I can still do that. I can still roll with that. I stay in shape. I keep it together. I stay strong.'

When I lived in London, I worked at the U.N. for a while as its human rights and refugees officer. I have two degrees, and my second was in radio. I was a programmer and news reporter in Canada. My CV looks bananas.

I went to high schools in four different countries. The gift is that you can constantly reinvent yourself. I still feel that freedom. One day, I'll wear a dress I got in India; the next, Converse sneakers and jeans.

I started singing when I was about 3 and dancing soon after. Mom just started looking for outlets where I could perform and availed herself of any opportunity she could in the mountains of North Carolina in the '70s.

[Harriet Tubman] is a legend, an icon, a soldier on the side of justice, a spiritual warrior, and a servant of God, as well as the one of the baddest women to literally ever walk the land. I surrendered to her spirit.

My cats, Jacob and Frank, mean the world to me, and by partnering once again with Fresh Step with the power of Febreze, I'm raising awareness for its Million Meow Mission to help every shelter cat find a forever home.

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