I don't feel that as an artist my job is to offer PR propaganda, whether for the good or for the bad.

I'm a storyteller. I feel like the issue of discourse is an important one because there's a lot of political and ideological discourse that goes around, and we relate to that on an intellectual level.

I can't be a spokesman for anything other than my own concerns. I have to be free to wrestle with my own preoccupations, and if I'm bringing any political awareness to that process, that mitigates my freedom.

I feel like one of the things that is central to American life is the religious experience, and I think that the experience of being Muslim in America is as valid and as important a perspective on the religious experience of America as evangelical Christianity or Judaism - whatever it may be.

If you're always waiting for a producer to hire you... your chances are really, really small. I've been knocking on doors and asking for a job for many years, and my career really changed when I decided to create my own material.

Creativity runs across many categories in life, from the arts-and-crafts project a mum or dad does with their kids, to the bestselling author's manuscript, to the designs of the hairdresser, to the creations of the computer programming genius.

I love being on 'Smackdown.' I feel like there is so much more opportunity, and we get to tell such fun, interesting stories. Everyone wants to work together to create gold - it's the best locker room I have ever been in throughout my whole career.

Being on a trapeze is like dreaming. I feel totally outside of myself when I'm flying. You know, designing shoes, my imagination is flying in my drawings.