I always had this curiosity about acting, but I was really into sports, and I never really thought about acting as a career. My senior year, I tried out for the high school production of 'The Wizard of Oz,' and that was it for me.

Acting was always something deep down I knew I wanted to do. It wasn't, like, a normal profession to want to pursue, and I knew that.

Ever since I was a kid, I loved being up in front of people. I loved making people laugh; I never had any stage fright.

My mom is, like, my unofficial publicist.

The state of Alabama can take my freedom, the state of Alabama can take my future, but the state of Alabama cannot take my joy.

The search for happiness has long been a dominant feature of American life. It's a byproduct of prosperity, not to mention the most famous line in the Declaration of Independence.

Since our society equates happiness with youth, we often assume that sorrow, quiet desperation, and hopelessness go hand in hand with getting older. They don't. Emotional pain or numbness are symptoms of living the wrong life, not a long life.

What happiness is there which is not purchased with more or less of pain?