Inside the magic of the comic book universe, it's just people to people, unguarded humanity overlapping and just getting to interact. The way we get our verdict is going to these conventions.

I had delusions of being a 'serious actor,' and I wanted to pursue those delusions.

The stage is bigger than life. There you are projecting to an audience. In television, you're drawing the camera in to you. And with TV, there isn't that immediate feedback from an audience. You do hours and hours of taping and never get that response.

Change does happen, you know?

In France, you're with the crew, and you have lunch with them. It's more like a family.

It definitely puts a strain on family life - I miss them like mad. Being a working mother I've been juggling house and career from day one. I want to hold out for telly for the second half of the year.

I lived near the border with China, and one night, I simply left home and walked across the iced-over river that separated the two countries. I was fortunate that my family had close relationships with some of the border guards, so I was able to cross without incident.

We lived, until I was 12 or so, in communal apartment with five different families and the same kitchen, in two little - my brother and me and my parents. It was hell, but it was a common thing. My father was not general or admiral, but he was colonel. He was teaching in military academy military topography.