I just feel like you have to go through this crazy transition if you're going to continue on with your career from a child star to an adult star.

I got my hair braided at this event once, and when I got the pictures back from it, I just became obsessed with them. They're kind of my thing now.

All of my friends are like, 'Look at me when I was a little kid. I was so cute!' and it's a picture of them in a tutu. I'm so terrified to show them my pictures, because it's me in boy shorts and a ponytail and my brother's shirt.

There are some kids I grew up with whose parents are in the industry, but my friends that I hang out with day-to-day aren't Hollywood.

Growing up, there was this explosion of B television. 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air,' you have 'Family Matters,' 'A Different World.' I had examples - of black children, black families, black women, black men - that represented who I was.

You see a child play, and it is so close to seeing an artist paint, for in play a child says things without uttering a word. You can see how he solves his problems. You can also see what's wrong. Young children, especially, have enormous creativity, and whatever's in them rises to the surface in free play.

The concept of 'family' has changed so much. It's not just 'mom and dad' anymore. It's 'mom and mom' and 'dad and dad,' and it's kind of beautiful.

My father was an ironworker who eventually co-founded a construction business. My mother, Jeanette, was a stay-at-home mom who had been an operating-room nurse until my older brother, Jimmy, was born.