My upbringing in Birmingham gave me a sense of reality. I could not pick another city I would rather have grown up in. Growing up around really good, solid, godly people, it helped me to find those kind of great people in L.A., too, which can be hard for some people.

Growing up, I was such a big fan of Nintendo games.

What I learned growing up in Red Mountain Theatre Company is real power and time management and how to represent myself well. How to show up earlier and stay later. Red Mountain Theatre Company, in my opinion, is the most incredible theater conservatory in the world.

Coming out of 'Hamilton,' my patriotic spirit and love for my country is renewed. I think that's the case for a lot of people. It instills a newly revitalized spirit in terms of learning about the formation of our country.

By relying on the statistical information rather than a gut feeling, you allow the data to lead you to be in the right place at the right time. To remain as emotionally free from the hurly burley of the here and now is one of the only ways to succeed.

We said, OK. We'll - as long as you take good care of us. And so it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of ups and downs throughout the whole period of time. And it's a very unique experience.

In real everyday life, I don't walk around feeling fat, and if on TV I'm considered fat, honestly, I kind of like it, because I'm a big advocate of positive unique representations of women in media. And so I like how I'm able to represent a curvier body and still be beautiful.

There were episodes where I would wear seven or eight outfits. It took a lot of time to get those together. What the character wears is very essential to how I create the character.