The Beatles were in a different stratosphere, a different planet to the rest of us. All I know is when I heard 'Love Me Do' on the radio, I remember walking down the street and knowing my life was going to be completely different now the Beatles were in it.

From musicals to plays, I was part of all things theatrical all through my school life in Chandigarh, and this helped me develop a strong love for theatre and acting. Even during college, I was active in the theatre scene and even founded two theatre groups.

There's probably somebody out there who has been dying to be Tony Stark, their whole life, and it will never happen. And then, it comes to me because I happened to do 'Heroes.' I mean, I love it. I'm totally respectful of the position, but I wasn't pursuing it.

I love writing picture books and story books because of the exciting, visual life that artists and illustrators give to them. And most of all, I love writing novels because of the inner, emotional journeys that they take me on. Hopefully, the reader comes with me!

That idea of not always being in control of the primitive parts of yourself - the bits that fall in love or the bits that dance or lose the plot or drink too much - and putting that across... that's pop for me. It's playing with all the different colours of the rainbow of life.

I live in Nashville, and I love to sing. When I'm on stage, I feel like a performer for sure. I know people are looking at me and taking pictures and singing along, and that part's wonderful, but I do live in Nashville. I live the most boring life away from what you see me on camera doing.

Doris Roberts had an energy and a spirit that amazed me. She never stopped. Whether working professionally or with her many charities or just nurturing and mentoring a green young comic trying to make it as an actor, she did everything with such a grand love for life and people, and I will miss her dearly.

My upbringing was faith-based, but we believed you should love all others as you want to be loved, because everyone should be treated equally. That's helped me have an understanding of people on different journeys and in different walks of life. At the end of the day, we're all the same, because we all want to be loved.

I love it when people refer to me as a singer-songwriter. I get flutters in my stomach because they say, 'This is Grace VanderWaal, singer-songwriter,' not, 'This is Grace VanderWaal, winner of 'America's Got Talent.'' I'm so proud of that; it's such a big chapter of my life. But it's nice to kind of not be known as just that.

If I'm teaching girls that do love to make cookies and do love fashion - that they can use math as a part of that - you think that's me saying, come on girls you belong in the kitchen, you belong shopping? Or, do you think it's me showing them how math is part of all their life, even the part they thought it had nothing to do with?

I love the movies, and when I go to see a movie that's been made from one of my books, I know that it isn't going to be exactly like my novel because a lot of other people have interpreted it. But I also know it has an idea that I'll like because that idea occurred to me, and I spent a year, or a year and a half of my life working on it.

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