When Aretha Franklin came on the radio when I was in college, we would stop the car, throw open the doors, jump out, and dance.
I look for a role that hopefully I feel empathy with and that I can understand and love, but also that has that challenge for me to play - a different kind of role, a different type of character, a different time period.
I'm always so nervous when I have to do interviews or be on 'The Tonight Show' or the 'Oprah' show, where I have to be myself. I don't know why that's such a big deal - being yourself. But for some reason, I feel good in a dark room talking to actors about acting, doing acting. I like sitting backstage watching people work.
My mother used to ask, 'Why do you always write such sad songs?' I don't know if I was different from a lot of adolescents in that respect.
My inner strength comes from my friends. I have a very close group of friends and family, and we all help each other through our dark times.
I was never an ingenue. I've always just been a character actor. When I was younger, it was a real problem, because I was never pretty enough. It was hard, not just for the lack of work, but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.
