I love Octavia Spencer. I love what she has to say as a human, and I love her career and the variety of characters she has played.
I want to play characters that people relate to, characters that make different kinds of women in society feel represented.
Actually, for me, it's really funny because I play characters with mommy issues more than anything, and I have a great relationship with my mom!
I'm very lucky with my family. They've always been very encouraging, and they never thought that anything would hold me back. I'm very fortunate to have had that.
I've seen a bunch of movies about pageants, and I know in general how they work.
It's okay to be you and okay to be who you are and okay to love and accept yourself.
Because I don't look like most lead actresses look, I was told that I shouldn't even come to America. That I shouldn't even try! I think that's ridiculous.
I'm a realist - yes, I know: darn, I'm unlikely to have a love scene with Chris Hemsworth anytime soon, if ever. But I also believe that persistence and hard work pays off.
None of my family is in the industry. But I watched movies like an insane person when I was a child. I used to make my dad stop at the video store every time we drove past it, and you had to drive past the video store to get to our house.
I think you have to try and fail a little bit, because you learn how badly you want it.
I grew up in Sydney, Australia, and I started doing acting classes when I was in eighth grade.
Not everybody gets to travel halfway around the world to see a whole different perspective. If we can see that on TV, we'll know that society is bigger than the small world we all live in.
I think confidence comes with age and experience, honestly.
I can't sing.
It's just so hard growing up: you go through things, especially acting - I go to a different set every couple of months, and you meet an entirely new group of people that are around you 24/7. It's not an easy situation to go into when you're a shy person.
How many people get to say they recorded a song with Dolly Parton and Jennifer Aniston?
One of the cool things about 'Patti Cake$' is that it is about someone that is against stereotype.
The most surprising thing - and the thing I really didn't think I would have an opportunity to do when I was younger - was I didn't realize the kind of roles I would be able to play. I thought it would be, like, two lines here, the joke.
Don't stress out about the things you can't control.
The cool thing about being different in this industry is that you get different roles; you aren't pigeonholed the same way.
