I'm a mother myself, and sometimes mothers get a bad rap just because they've tried to do their job. Some people have more of a knack for it than others do, but almost all of it falls to, 'My mother's suffocating me.' Whatever.

They say getting a show on the air and having it be a success, literally, the odds are like winning the lottery. For me, I've won the lottery several times, so I've been awfully lucky.

I have taught some master classes and things at my alma mater and sometimes at my kids' school. I will go in and talk to the theater students. I wouldn't really call myself a teacher.

I love series television because it's so much fun to have that much opportunity to paint the character.

Feeling the pressure to find a job or make the wage we earn go as far as we need it to? That's totally relatable. Nearly all my pals, and definitely myself, have been in that situation. It's no fun.

My job is to get things done.

I was busy with my family, my budding career as a TV writer, my antipathy for the Los Angeles Lakers, and my general reluctance to engage in anything that might force me to leave my comfort zone. But sometimes ideas won't let you go. For me, educating girls was like that.

I always knew that I wanted to be an actor. I made my debut on stage when I was 12, and I was sure that this is what made me happy. However, nobody takes a 12-year-old's career choice seriously. Everybody laughed it off. I also ran away from it, but acting eventually found me.