I got my Equity card right out of NYU grad school in 2000, doing 'The Great White Hope' at Arena Stage. I played Jack Jefferson. It was an amazing part to walk into, to carry that responsibility for that amount of time. The challenges and the breadth of that role were pretty amazing.
I moved to New York in '92 and got my graduate degree in acting from NYU - they have a great acting program. I graduated in '95.
I have a great pic of my father and Rev. Graham laughing hysterically at some joke with George Pratt Shultz looking on back in 1972 or so.
Of John Le Carre's books, I've only read 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold,' and I haven't read anything by Graham Greene, but I've heard a great deal about how 'Your Republic Is Calling You' reminded English readers of those two writers. I don't really have any particular interest in Cold War spy novels.
Ayrton and I shared a lot of incredible races, where he was first and I was second and vice-versa. I think it's fair to say I am the only racer in Grand Prix history who wasn't intimidated by him, and I think that was great for the fans - it did make us have a few close calls, though!
Being No. 1 is great, but it is even better to win a Grand Slam.
Of course it's one of my goals to win another grand slam. Wimbledon was great - so if it's Wimbledon again, that's fine - but I think I have the game to win the other grand slams as well.
I cooked at the White House for Easter, last year, with Michelle Obama. But it more had to do with cooking from the organic garden, and her message. I took my daughter and granddaughter there, and they were really charming, it was great.
My dream is to be World Lightweight Champion in the UFC. Have more money than I know what to do with. And have a great life for my kids, grandkids, and everyone in my family.
Storytelling was a way to see the world bigger than the one you were looking at, and that had great appeal for me. I think, since that was part of my upbringing, it became part of me, and I wanted to pass it along to my kids and my grandkids.
My mother was very funny. My dad had a great sense of humor. My grandmother, too.
It doesn't give me any satisfaction to think that my concerns will be validated by my grandchildren's generation. I would love to be wrong in everything. My grandchildren are my stake in the near future, and it's my great hope that they might one day say, 'Grandpa was part of a great movement that helped to turn things around.'
As a young girl, I saw commitment in my grandmother, who helped Grandpa homestead our farm on the Kansas prairie. Somehow they outlasted the Dust Bowl, the Depression, and the tornadoes that terrorize the Great Plains.
In the cold and snow-rich Silesian winters, there were hour-long rides on Sundays in horse-drawn sleighs to my maternal grandparent's farm to have lunch and to spend the afternoon. The house was a magnificent 18th-century manor house in the nearby Altgabel with a great hall that was decorated with hunting trophies.
Hell is paved with great granite blocks hewn from the hearts of those who said, I can do no other.
I grew up in a bustling household of women with my mom, granny, and aunts. Seeing all these strong women taking charge of their lives and living it to the fullest was a great inspiration while growing up.
My Italian granny and my mother made great spaghetti, but it wasn't a kind of southern Italian, Godfather-esque kind of thing - it was a wonderful, big mixing pot of all kinds of people - when you came home from school and your mum wasn't in, there were lots of people you could go to.
Comic books and graphic novels are a great medium. It's incredibly underused.
Currently computer graphics are used a great deal, but it can be excessive.
I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.
