I grew up in Boston.

I can be very moody.

I dreamed of being an artist.

I'm not one for lying to children.

I love entertaining people! It's who I am.

It has never been illegal to be a refugee.

I love making dishes that my mother used to make.

My job as an actor is to be visible and to tell stories.

Just sharing who you are - there's so much value in that.

Love yourself no matter who you are or where you come from.

'Forrest Gump' has been one of my favorite movies of all time.

I learned at a very young age that my parents were undocumented.

I want to present the immigrant community in more of a real light.

I know my family loves me, but the hardest part is to love myself.

I always wanted to, to the smallest detail, make my parents proud.

I definitely binge-watched 'House of Cards' when it first came out.

My father was desperately trying to be a legal contributor to this society.

It is a huge myth that our voices don't matter, that our vote doesn't count.

Once I started advancing in my career, I stopped wanting to hide from my reality.

I definitely had to pave my own path, which wasn't always the easiest thing to do.

When you're the child of undocumented immigrants, you learn to keep your mouth shut.

Deporting asylum seekers back to violence does not reflect the values of our country.

I am conscious of the community that I'm representing and don't play into stereotypes.

People like seeing people being human and real, and I think that's been lacking on TV.

We were like any other family with the same troubles and some of the same happy moments.

I worked while in high school and college so that I could pay for school. I also had loans.

I am a proud American, regardless of the fact that my parents were separated from me forcefully.

We need someone who's going to govern on behalf of everyone in this country, including immigrants.

Immigrants are working hard to give our families a better life. Isn't that what the American Dream is?

My father, who worked as a dishwasher, was especially anxious. He did not like being here undocumented.

When I go to places, I love going to all those kind of amusement parks and kind of cheesy things to do.

I want to live in a country where we believe in helping each other, where we see where resources are lacking.

No one checked to see if I had a place to live or food to eat, and at 14, I found myself basically on my own.

When I've been asked in the past about my dream role, I always expressed how much I'd like to be a superhero.

I don't think you're ever ready to read your life back to yourself and try to make it entertaining for others.

I so desperately wanted to be honest, and I so desperately wanted to love myself and accept myself for who I was.

I had dreams, but always told myself, 'Nah, that would never happen.' For a poor Latina, (acting) wasn't a reality.

As a kid, I felt like I had no voice, felt like I had no options, and that's what drove me to this really dark place.

Anybody who lives in Colombia knows that if you don't have any money - I tell you what - you don't have many options.

I am representing my community, in a sense, especially given the fact that there are not as many Latino actors out there.

I think one of my best qualities is my ability to empathize with people. Perhaps it's because my journey has been so bumpy.

We should be a nation that welcomes immigrants, keeps families together, and ensures that everyone gets a fair day in court.

Sometimes I want to bury myself in bed, and I don't want anyone to know anything about me, and I don't want anyone to judge me.

Every day, children who are U.S. citizens are separated from their families as a result of immigration policies that need fixing.

Whatever the reason is, I am happiest when connecting with the human experience. It lets me know that I'm not alone in this world.

My parents were desperately trying to become documented citizens of this country and tried very hard to get there, but to no avail.

For me, picking a college was really difficult. I wish I had had my parents there kind of supervising me. But I chose well. I did OK.

I think it's always been sort of difficult for people of color to celebrate the Fourth of July and really understand what that means.

Neighbors broke the news that my parents had been taken away by immigration officers, and just like that, my stable family life was over.

My real story is this: I am the citizen daughter of immigrant parents who were deported when I was 14. My older brother was also deported.

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