With my family as my audience, I used to sing, dance, and reenact every scene from 'Grease,' 'Newsies' and 'Les Miserables' as many times as they would let me.
When I was a 7-year-old girl, in my bedroom, on my karaoke machine, I would sing 'On My Own' or do a one-woman version of 'Les Miserables.'
'Les Miserables', the book, 'Les Miserables', the musical - it's about giving; it's about goodness. It's about compassion and love.
I sing; I started my career at 9 years old in 'Les Miserables' on Broadway.
I didn't know I could sing until I auditioned for 'Les Miserables.' My friend was auditioning, and I wanted to audition too.
I can't comprehend that I'm in the film of 'Les Miserables.' It's one of those dreams I thought would be unattainable for someone like me, who came from nowhere.
Every year I go to Broadway to see a musical - I like the music. I saw 'Mamma Mia;' I saw 'Les Miserables;' I saw 'Phantom of the Opera' like six, seven times.
I don't understand choreographers who say they don't care about the audience or that they would be happy to present their works non-publicly. I think dance is a form of communication and the goal is to dialogue with the audience. If an audience member tells me they cried or that the dance moved them to think about their own journey or a family member's, then the work is successful.
But I'm tone deaf - window-shattering tone deaf. I can't sing for the life of me. I can't sing or dance, so no remake of 'Grease' for me!
I think it's been a little difficult at times for the audience, because they've told me they see me as a family member. So to see your little sister sing about sex... I think they are pretty used to it now.
Every scene in 'Ganga Jamuna' has been spellbinding for me. I can see the film any number of times and still not be able to pinpoint a scene and say 'This is the best scene!' Every scene is perfect.
I went to a performing arts school. I went to an audition for a musical, 'Les Miserables,' in the West End, and I got in, and my parents were like, 'Oh, you can sing?' So I kind of started singing properly when I was, like, seven.
'Bloodless' reminded me a bit of 'Les Miserables' when it first came out.
During one performance of 'Les Miserables,' the barricade didn't leave the stage, so we had to actually end up finishing the second act with the barricades on the stage, which was very strange... doing the love scene on the barricade.
I didn't have to express myself to anybody; I would just sing. And most of the times, when I initially used to sing, I used to get scared of my own voice.
Sitting next to Olivia Newton-John, I was like, 'Do not sing one song from Grease.' That's all I was telling my brain at all times: 'Do not sing Hopelessly Devoted. Don't do it.'
I would sing anywhere they would invite me. That's how I made my first pesos. I used to sing at beauty pageants, local events of every sort.