I first bought a Buffy Sainte-Marie record when I was 12, and her music has always remained with me. In the 1960s, as a political activist, Buffy's lyrics were fearless, and I'm very grateful for all the risks that she took.
My first gig in the business was a guest star on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' so I'm neck deep in sci-fi. It's been a very good genre to me.
When I was in high school in America, I didn't see anyone who looked like me - hardly ever. I just thought that was normal because you don't know any better. So I used to idolize so many other people, like Sarah Michelle Gellar on 'Buffy.'
There's a part of me that will always believe that Angel is Buffy's true love. That there will be a piece of her heart that will always be with him for the rest of her life.
I actually go to the gym much more now than I did when I was on Buffy. I like to stay fit, because that's when I feel really healthy. But I never worked out for any kind of image. People have said to me, 'Do you starve yourself before photo shoots?' And I always say, 'No way.! That's what airbrushing is for. I had french fries last night.'
Buffy's very similar to me to me when I was growing up. A child in an adult world, sort of trapped between the two. Does Buffy go to the prom or does she save the world from demons?
My son had toyed with the idea of writing and trying to write a little bit, so that kind of gave me the bug to write also.
I think I wanted to sing, but I just couldn't because I was so shy. I didn't really know how to begin that other than like, singing in my room, locking the door, and trying to sing kind of quietly. I knew my mom would want to listen and she would probably bug me about it.
I've always been surrounded by many great people and professors, but my family, especially my mom who was a teacher, was the person who encouraged me to study and pushed me to continue. When we're young, we don't understand why our parents bug us so much with school and doing homework, but it's a blessing to have that support at home.
I got the travel bug when I was quite young. My parents took me and my sisters out of school and we travelled all over Europe. It was an eye-opening experience and, although I love Norway, I also enjoy visiting new countries. I don't get homesick.
I'm afraid one thing - I don't like heights. Heights bug me out. I'm not cool with heights. I refuse to do a comedy show 12 stories up. I'm fearless about everything else.
My house was bugged. They couldn't find any information on me being a subversive because I happen to love America; I just don't like some of the things the government is doing.
I spent many, many hours with my computer, and it really bugged me that it was very oblivious to my emotional state. And that kind of inspired and motivated me to build an emotionally intelligent computer.
When 'Rent: Live' was announced, I bugged everybody. The creatives, Fox, the producers, my team - I have to be Mark Cohen. It almost got to a laughable point for me. I was like, 'I have to be Mark Cohen.'
I remember my comic strips being called 'new wave.' It bugged me.
I'm comfortable in front of a camera, and I'm used to being watched, although that kind of bugged me at first. On the stage, though, I'm scared. I really get frightened in front of people.
When I was doing interviews at the FBI, my tape recorder battery died. They gave me a new one, and I said, 'Of course, this is bugged?'
'If Our Love Is Wrong' is, quite simply, my coming out song, as I was trying to wrap my head around my sexuality and was starting to learn about songwriting, and that my honesty and my authenticity came from my personal experiences and writing about stuff that genuinely bugged me or upset me.
Dean had just come from seeing his lawyer. That was the first time that I found out that he had consulted a lawyer. He wanted to tell me what he thought was going on, but he was writing it down as if my house was bugged. He acted like everything was bugged.
I rarely went to the mosque, I never fasted, and I only prayed namaaz on the holy nights because my mom bugged me about it.
