I entertain more than just sayin', 'oh that's a female rapper,' or 'oh, that's a rapper,' period.' But, me, I put out music, and when I put it out, I also entertain on Twitter. I entertain on stage. I entertain talking to people.
For a woman, there is a complete dearth of roles to do. Abroad, you really have good roles, and by good roles, I don't mean the film has to be women oriented. I wouldn't mind playing a well-written, small role.
I don't want to make a habit of just playing small roles, because I really enjoy the process of being part of a film and staying on it for the length of time that everybody else is as well.
A lot of people know me from my character that I play on 'Superstore,' Mateo, and I'm not interested in playing straight roles. I'm all about playing queer roles.
When I started, I was a theater actress, and there were roles that I couldn't imagine not playing, like Rosalind in 'As You Like It.' I used to think I would die if I could play that. But then I started doing movies, and I had children, and I moved to Los Angeles. And now I kind of can't remember what those roles would be.
All of us are playing roles, and there's nothing wrong with playing roles because we have to live in this world - the problem is only when we believe in those roles.
Ninety percent of my roles, I've had to fight for. It's only a really small percentage of people who get handed roles. But that can be quite scary. The good thing about auditioning is that you get to test yourself and see if you can play this character - you're also auditioning yourself. I enjoy seeing what the chemistry is between the people you might be working with.
The first year I moved to Nashville, I started playing these songwriter nights with people like Nickel Creek, Duncan Sheik, and even Ryan Adams... That was the first place I really started playing music, and I had to really step up my game. Really quick. Or get kicked off the stage.
The most important thing is to find people that you enjoy - friends that you enjoy playing music with.
It's always so nerve-wracking being up there on stage. It's even harder playing in your hometown - and I have a couple of home towns - but, you're playing for all the people you knew in high school, so it causes no small degree of panic in my mind.
You've heard the phrase 'There are no small roles, just small actors?' Well, I kind of disagree. There are small roles, but when you get a lot of them in a row, you can become a pretty successful actress, and that's what I've done.
I started on the stage with my mom in Denmark doing political revues in a small, small town.
I love playing darker roles, or roles with meat. I feel very comfortable in that environment. I don't know why. I don't know what that says about me. I really enjoy doing complicated characters.
I'm at the transition place myself, still playing high school girls but moving to a stage when I'm playing older roles and going to the places of stillness and wisdom and knowledge and weight. It's exciting and scary.
Go on stage and stomp my foot on stage and play my guitar and sing my guts out because I love to entertain people. That's what makes me happy.
I started very early. I started to be interested in design when I was 14 years old, basically, and before I was just like anybody else, any other kid. I was playing with everything. I loved to do stage sets by cutting a piece of board and making a cut in three sides, flipping it down, making the stage.