I want to pick good projects, I want to work with great directors and try not to put too much pressure on myself and just read things for the story and recognize when I'm drawn to something for the right reasons and try to maintain some sanity. Sanity would be good. I'd like to have a little sanity!
I have never left the Tamil film industry and have always maintained that I'm open to good projects. I have not restricted myself to any one industry.
The whole goal for me with my career is just follow good projects and good parts and challenge myself as much as I can.
I've always expected a lot out of myself, and it can be a good quality. But it can be bad at times, too.
My whole goal is to make good records and keep myself inspired and able to accomplish what I need to accomplish.
If somebody has a bad reputation on the internet or if they have a really good reputation on the internet, I donβt care. I want to meet said person and make up my mind for myself, and then go from there.
When I did 'Grease,' I took good care of myself. I treated it like a job. I approached it very professionally because I wanted to make a good reputation and hopefully continue on in the Broadway community and continue to do shows.
I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. And I was. I was growing up middle-class in a time when growing up middle-class in America meant there would be jobs for my parents, good schools for me to prepare myself for a career, and, if I worked hard and played by the rules, a chance for me to do anything I wanted.
Yes, I will probably concentrate on solo roles, but I would not say no to multi-starrers if they come from good directors and with a good script. I would allow myself the freedom to do it.
I look at myself like a show dog. I've got to keep her clipped and trimmed and in good shape.
If I want to listen to myself as much as I want to listen to Drake or Beyonce, I feel like that's a good sign.
I was always a good student. I wasn't the A-plus student, but I studied really hard, and I probably had a 3.2. I always wished that I had the capacity to get straight A's, but I didn't. I didn't beat myself up about it, but I really studied hard for my grades.
I actually was a good student, but I never applied myself 'cause I was always like, 'I don't love doing this.' I wasn't passionate about school. I always got a B just to pass. But what's crazy is I got a 29 on my ACT test without even studying. So I was always, like, just smart - but never really cared.
I think I can be pretty focused, but as I say, it was more wanting to be the good student, seeing myself as a good student, and also, my parents had expectations. They wouldn't have cared if I got a B or a C or even a D.
I am a teacher. It's how I define myself. A good teacher isn't someone who gives the answers out to their kids but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed. That's the way I see myself, so whatever it is that I will do eventually after politics, it'll have to do a lot with teaching.
Factors such as timing, luck, and destiny have a bearing on success. But success and failure are good teachers. Failure means something better is waiting for you. But I will allow myself to get upset at failure only if I know I have not given it my all.
Of my old tendency to overdo the dedication and deface the title page with florid compliments and obscure quotes which the recipient cannot read, I will say only that I learnt my lesson when I had to shell out with my own money for a hardback I'd vandalised and now limit myself to 'Good wishes.'
I don't think of myself as doing good works. It's not, 'Oh, I must give these poor people a voice.'
It took me a while to affirm the fact that I'm actually a really good writer. I couldn't even call myself a writer with a straight face because I didn't take my gift seriously.
Saying good-bye on 'Nurse Jackie' was a really big deal, so I'm sure I was keeping myself guarded from ever having to feel anything like that again on another job, especially a death scene.
