I'm still Sean that me mates went to school with, not Sean the film star. And that's the way I prefer to be.
I was quite academic, quite geeky when I was a kid. I was more interested in going to school than I was in becoming a film star or something.
I'm a pretty normal person outside of the film world. It doesn't really affect me when I'm at school or with my mates.
We shot 'High School Musical' in eight weeks. I spent longer rehearsing for 'Hairspray' than filming 'High School Musical'.
All I know is movies; I went to school, but movies are my reference point for everything. I figured I'd have to P.A. or intern in the art department. Because the filmmaking process is so many people creating to make one piece of magic, so I've always wanted to be involved. With the acting, I doubted it.
We kept my middle schooler home from school for three days before we turned in our final draft because she was so mean and so brutal at editing out all the cheesy bits. She would roll her eyes and make fun of us, and it was what we needed.
Not too many people have my story. And this is my story: A guy goes from unknown to a Heisman Trophy finalist. He gets kicked out of school. He absolutely rebounds himself. He becomes a millionaire. He's taking care of his family. And then he's getting injured.
It was not until the end of my freshman year in high school that I thought I could really have a future in track and field. I definitely did not think I could make it to the Olympics back then, though; I was just focused on making it to the state finals!
I went to a high school, I took tests, I took finals, I went to football games - I did the whole thing. Because I really wanted to have that normalcy.
When I graduated from high school, I got accepted to York University, Fine Arts film program.
As I grew older, I actually was prepared to go into fine arts school and do a degree. That was what I was actually settled upon when I was offered a record deal.
It's about businesses nervous about taking on school leavers because of a mass of red tape. It's about health and safety regulations and green fines.
Finish last in your league and they call you idiot. Finish last in medical school and they call you doctor.
You know what they call the fellow who finishes last in his medical school graduating class? They call him 'Doctor.'
I love 'Sunday in the Park with George.' I saw that when I was just, just starting theater school, and I remember singing 'Finishing the Hat' or at least reading the lyrics to 'Finishing the Hat' and other songs from 'Sunday in the Park with George' to my mom to try to explain why I wanted to be an artist.
I've wrestled my whole life, and when I got done with college, I went back to school to become a firefighter. I liked MMA, but I didn't really know if I wanted to get punched in the face!
One of the things we have to remember about the poorest countries in the world is that parents, extremely poor parents, are making the choice of whether to send their girls to school. And they are struggling with lack of water, lack of firewood, and lack of care for their youngest children. And those burdens fall on the girls.
I didn't have a fireworks moment for my salvation. I had a falling in love with Jesus in Sunday school when I was a very young child.
I just couldn't stand school. If I went, I'd skip after the first class. I didn't like to be told I had to study and had to do homework. There's a fact that you have to want to learn.
I was part of the first generation of girls and women to be educated and go to grammar school even if we didn't have much money. Then that generation went, 'OK, great', and went into medicine or the police, and hit this wall of discrimination from older men who hadn't caught up.
