I like doing Marathi films. I am not too keen on Hindi TV shows. It's very tough to get Hindi films, but if a good script and role comes up in future, I will surely pick it up.
I was never that kid who grew up in New York and was always at the arthouse watching important films. I was the kid who grew up in the Midwest where there weren't any art films, and I watched TV. And that was really the medium that affected me and that I fell in love with.
I am a big fan of the old Howard Hawks films from the 30s and 40s, I was a big Hepburn and Tracey fan for a while and Woody Allen films that are a very different kind of romantic comedy.
When you do a movie as opposed to a TV show, it's always tempting to think everything has to be big and exaggerated and spectacular. And in fact, a lot of the funniest comedy films have been very intimate.
I want to do comedy films, serious films - I admire the actors who fly under the radar but get loads done, pop up in a lot of good films.
At some point in time, in the future, people are going to refer to the Step Up films as the films they grew up on. Hopefully, that inspires them to get in dance films that are being made.
I think TV somehow would restrict my performance to one particular role whereas, in films, I will get more opportunity to show my versatility.
I personally just want to do as many different things as I can do, whether it's comedy, drama, science fiction, horror, narrator... You've got a documentary, I've got a voice. Animated films. Big films, small films.
I didn't really grow up watching a lot of films. I grew up in the middle of Texas in a very rural area, so we were always outside fishing or playing a sport - we were never in front of a TV watching films.
I really wanted to do some serious work. I really wanted to be a part of dramatic films. I wanted to show this talent, whatever that means, that I could be a dramatic actress as well. But the truth is, a) I don't know if I can, and b) I love doing comedy, and I felt almost a little embarrassed that I succumbed to the pressure. Vanity is really what it is. I feel really grateful that I am in comedy, and I love doing it.
When I grew up I assembled my role models à la cart. I wanted to be an astrophysicist. If I tried to find a role model who grew up in the Bronx with my skin color who was an astrophysicist, I would never have become an astrophysicist.
I am ably balancing big and small films. With every big film I do, I try to take up films that are high on content and small on budget.
Yeah, like '300,' I've probably watched it 300 times. It's one of my favourite films. I've just finished watching 'Spartacus,' another great series. I relate a lot to those kind of films. I think most fighters should relate to those films. It just seems natural. I am Spartacus, I am Leonidas, I am the lead role in those films.
I took a break from TV for about three-four years. During that time, I had to let go of some of the best shows that were offered to me, as I wanted to focus on films. It was believed that if you are seen too much on TV, you won't get films.
When I was making short films for the TV show 'Naalaya Iyakunar,' I wasn't just competing but making films that I could potentially show at international festivals.
Usually the films that I do are released theatrically in foreign markets. In the U.S., they're either picked up as HBO premier films or Showtime first-runs. In today's market, in America, you need at least $50 million for your budget to go to the big show, and I'm not quite there yet. But keep watching - maybe someday I will be.