I come from a family of storytellers. Growing up, my father would make up these stories about how he and my mother met and fell in love, and my mother would tell me these elaborately visual stories of growing up as a kid in New York, and I was always so enrapt.
I never thought about what I would write. I just come from such a big family of storytellers.
I come from a family of seven, so growing up I always thought I'd like a big family.
I liked Bollywood a lot growing up; I just liked the idea of seeing people that looked like me on a big screen, that alone just does so much for confidence. I'm a super visual person, I need to see something before I do it.
Before we were born, a whole society of storytellers was already here. The storytellers who were here before us taught us how to be human.
You know, growing up, I lived in a neighborhood in Long Island where there was basically one black family. And I remember hearing all the parents and the kids in the neighborhood say racist things about this family.
Growing up in a Canadian household that was more British than Big Ben, I dreamed of flying to England myself and visiting the places my family never tired of talking about. I always woke up before the plane landed.
Growing up in a very big family, working together and playing together, that is something that has been part of my life since ever I was born. It has advantages and disadvantages. It's like an older style of living where everyone works in the family business.
Though I technically come from a film family, my father had stopped making films even before my brother and I were born. So I did not really grow up in a filmi environment. And when I was growing up, becoming an actress was still quite a taboo. And you may not believe this, but even my father did not want me to join films.
When I was growing up, I heard horror stories about producers losing their houses overnight. No matter who the family is, hearing of them getting evicted is very sad.
I was a really big - I was a big fan of pitching staffs in general growing up, not necessarily teams. So I liked the Braves pitching staff of Maddox, Glavine, and Smoltz, and I liked the A's pitching staff with Zito, Hudson, and Mulder.
I come from a family who prided themselves, both sides, on memory. And I was told growing up, constantly, that I was born with a really good memory.
It's great hearing stories of my mum growing up in Brooklyn, then moving to Florida, having me and growing up with this eccentric, fun family. Although I don't eat a lot of Italian things, because I'm vegan. I was raised on meat and cheese, so I've had enough for anyone's normal life span.
I'm the youngest of six. When you're in a big family, you get put to the test right away. Do I like being the center of attention? Or do I not like it? You have to make that decision a lot growing up. I knew from a very young age that I liked it.
When you come from a big family, you see that, growing up, you're learning how to share. Your sisters have got your back; you're not alone in this - 'We all support you!' Your family provides that; it gives you a sense of safety, and it's a very grounding feeling.
As I was growing up, you know, I'm a white Jewish American born to Holocaust parents. My father fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and my mother's family had fled the czars of Russia before that.