Be it a trip to the dentist, getting an injection or even coming home with a good report card, my reward always had to be a book. I didn't care much for anything else.

I want to get fitter. And yes, I'm learning hot yoga to get a bikini body. I don't believe one has to sport a size-zero figure to flaunt it. One just needs a fit, sexy and toned body.

Reading has made me more open, has improved my understanding, and has made me a better artiste, but it also makes me live in my own bubble. My mom keeps asking me, 'What do you read in that room the whole day?' Once I am into a book, I will finish it.

As actors, we want to choose somebody who has conflicts. I can't be always playing the girl next door. What's the challenge in that?

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

I don't believe in that kind of pragmatic career ladder stuff.

When I started writing a business column 15 years ago, I knew I'd found the perfect job for myself. As a columnist I could pick my own topic, do my own analysis, say what I wanted to say and attribute it to myself. Best of all, I could write in my own voice.

I didn't really like opera. I liked cheerleading and boys and, later, smoking. So my opera career was cut short when I was 15. My dad got sick, and we couldn't afford the lessons, so I stopped and became a cheerleader and wrecked my voice.