I was a fan of westerns growing up. Every boy wanted to ride a horse and be a cowboy.

I had no idea what it took to be an actor. Then all of a sudden I found myself cast in a TV drama. The director was very harsh with me. One time, he told me this would be my first and last acting job. I seriously thought that acting was not the right career for me.

Whenever I open a movie, I go secretly to the theater and stand in the back and enjoy the moment. I laugh when people laugh, and when people cry, I laugh.

When I was a young kid, my father was a big fan of Hollywood movies. He would make me watch movies with him, and he would explain the story and characters to me.

My rule is, whatever you were calling me four years ago is what you should be calling me now, because I don't like it when my family or close friends call me Nicki Minaj. To me I'm not Nicki Minaj when I'm with them.

My mother always told me never offend a man's ego and never hurt a woman's emotions - an advice I will not forget to pass on to my daughter.

I'm not a natural employer. I live very privately, and we like our privacy at home. To be sitting and talking with your wife or your family and to have somebody walking around and you're ignoring them, I couldn't handle that at all. I can barely handle a cleaning lady coming in every so often.

I never thought about becoming a politician. But during the military dictatorship, my grandfather was put in prison six times and my father twice. If my family and my country didn't have this history, I might be a professor somewhere today.