Growing up in Holland, I always thought my name was boring, but in the U.S., all of a sudden I have a very cool name.

I learned English at school, or at least that's how it started. Also, in Holland - as opposed to some other European countries - we don't dub anything, so as a kid growing up, always watching English and American movies in their original language really helped.

I think it will be great if we have more female directors in the world.

It sounds so weird, but I'm totally pro-aging. If you look at the film industry, it's so funny how it's so much more accepted that actors begin their prime in their forties or fifties, and for women, it's so different. I think it's time to change that. Aging is a beautiful thing.

And my career, the things that have happened have happened because of my music education background.

I was a senior high school student at the Far Eastern University when the war with Japan broke out in 1941.

By continuing to increase teacher recruitment and training - and ameliorating wages and working conditions - we will be able to shore up the weaknesses of the French education system.

I got a crash-course education in urban fantasy. I suddenly had to look up all these other writers I was supposed to be in a genre with. I instantly had to become an expert in this genre I knew almost nothing about.