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My parents always said that I would be a lawyer or pilot or doctor - and I always just thought that's what I would do.
When your parents are Middle Eastern immigrants, you have three choices. You can become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer.
My parents have mellowed quite a bit, but, growing up, there was a sense that the only real professions were doctor, engineer, lawyer. Those were your choices.
My parents never understood why I didn't want to be a doctor or lawyer. They're Cuban immigrants who wanted to give their children the American dream, and, to them, that was more of what 'the dream' entailed.
My parents, or Asian parents in general, they're like, 'You should be a doctor, a lawyer, or a banker' - all that's laid out. As a kid that's what I bought into, which is why I ended up going the corporate route initially.
I'm from Nigerian descent, and the classic Nigerian mentality is 'Stay in school! You're going to be a doctor, you're going to be a lawyer.' That is what it is. Thankfully my parents knew my situation was different because I definitely didn't want to be a doctor, I definitely didn't want to be a lawyer.
The announcement that I was going to be an actor was made when was I was 10 years old. And that didn't go down all that well, but I had a lot of years to butter up my parents. My parents have mellowed quite a bit, but, growing up, there was a sense that the only real professions were doctor, engineer, lawyer. Those were your choices.