We had nothing in hand and my father used to live on the street. The profession of acting happened to him when B.R. Chopra picked him up for a film, and my father acted just to earn money for survival.

For me it is important to mould myself as the director wants. That's my challenge as an actor.

In India, there's so much strife, pain and trouble that song, dance and going to the movies is respite.

I always look for reinventing myself... doing something different and new.

When you're getting chemotherapy, you feel so alone, even when your family is there, or your friends are there with you. Sometimes it's just you, feeling like you're in a fight against something that you can't control.

My son, who is five, was adopted from Ethiopia. My daughter was adopted from Guatemala. Her parents died of typhoid and malaria. We got her from an orphanage. They are the lights of my life.

I was really young when I started on 'One Tree Hill,' and the encouragement from my friends and family has been crucial in my development as an actress. I'm also continuously surprised and humbled by the kindness and generosity of the fans.

We sure didn't feel like refugees, but in hindsight, I guess we were - my father and mother left everything behind to come here - to be safe and give their boys a chance to rebuild a life.