I didn't grow up in one place, so I never had a certain mentality. I have some aspects of growing up in Texas, but I also have a lot of East Coast family. I would have loved to grow up on the East Coast.

I went to school on a military base in Germany. I got a lot of my clothes at the army surplus store.

All of the awards, applause, Twitter followers, shoes, it will all go away eventually. But if I can leave the world slightly more hopeful, inspired, and more healed than when I arrived, I did my job.

Natalie Portman never looks back, ever. Ever!

We participate and are responsible for a lot of the things that happen to us. If you hate your job, you are much more likely to get sick and die at a younger age than someone who's happy at work and has a nice family life and is mentally well adjusted.

Well, I was a big fan of the book and therein a huge fan of the girl Precious. And so I felt like I knew this girl. I felt like I'd grown up alongside her. I felt like she was in my family. She was my friend and she was like people I didn't want to be friends with.

Forever Amber,' written by Kathleen Winsor in 1944, was banned in Boston at the time of its publication as obscene and offensive. This alone would have been enough to excite my interest, but in 1956, it was sitting inoffensively on the shelves of the small country library on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, where my family spent its summers.

Your parents would not be happy if you came home and said you wanted to grow up to be a chef or a rock star.