Growing up, I saw the world as an inspiring place full of interesting people.

When I was growing up, my family was serious about manners. I always wanted to put my elbow on the table to prop my head up. I didn't understand how other people looked awake. My head felt so heavy after the whole day.

Growing up in a very big family, working together and playing together, that is something that has been part of my life since ever I was born. It has advantages and disadvantages. It's like an older style of living where everyone works in the family business.

I studied philosophy at Columbia, then dropped out to do drama at the Lee Strasberg Institute.

I'm a great mother because of my intentions on being a great mother; I'm a good friend because I'm loyal; I'm a good daughter because I've hopefully made my mother proud; I'm a great human being because I accept that there's a spiritual being underneath it all. I've always been a woman of faith.

I thank God every day for my family.

Fatherhood is not a matter of station or wealth. It is a matter of desire, diligence and determination to see one's family exalted in the celestial kingdom. If that prize is lost, nothing else really matters.

My house is full of paintings by my mother Pam. She was a fantastic, prolific artist but had no confidence in herself, thanks to my father running her down. They married during the war when she was 19 - she had planned to go to art school. But my father didn't want her to work, so she became a housewife.