There were so many wonderful opportunities for me growing up in Cleveland. And whatever I'm doing in New York or Hollywood, I meet people from Cleveland.

Of course, yes, I watched 'Dora' growing up. I'm bilingual, and she's like my icon.

I was a little tomboy, growing up, but we had to go to the library every weekend if we wanted some form of entertainment. And I would gravitate towards the Shirley Temple, Judy Garland section of the library, and I would just pop that in and watch on replay because kids can watch movies over and over again.

I don't think I related to the Irish Catholic surroundings that was my environment when I was growing up.

My teacher at RADA said I was going to have trouble when I left because I wasn't an obvious juvenile lead, although I could do both comedy and drama. But I understood enough to know that my career was going to be a marathon, not a sprint.

Understand this - as a new company, if you don't know how to get interested prospects into your company, then you don't have a company. At the same time, if you, as a owner, have to drive every lead into your business, then you need a real lead generation strategy.

In my experience, with very few exceptions - I am, as it happens, one of the exceptions - the one thing that most editors don't want to do is edit. It's not nearly as conducive to a successful career as having lunch out with important agents or going to meetings where you get noticed.

I always knew that I wanted to be an actor. I made my debut on stage when I was 12, and I was sure that this is what made me happy. However, nobody takes a 12-year-old's career choice seriously. Everybody laughed it off. I also ran away from it, but acting eventually found me.