I've spent my life alone in a room with a typewriter.

Even when I'm alone, my life revolves around film. I think that's why I live in New York, not L.A., where it's so concentrated.

I like the idea of being alone. I like the idea of often being alone in all aspects of my life. I like to feel lonely. I like to need things.

Luckily, my husband is my business partner as well as my life partner, so I never had to do the heavy lifting alone, literally or figuratively.

Being an actress does not mean that each thing that happens in my life has to be news or meant to be shared with others. Acting is a profession, and once I leave the sets, I want to be left alone.

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, the color of my skin and my rather peculiar background as an Ethiopian immigrant delineated the border of my life and friendships. I learned quickly how to stand alone.

I learned about not just being with someone because I don't want to be alone: being willing to be alone, and then find something that feels right and just reaching for companionship for companionship's sake. Not letting drama lead my life.

I couldn't comprehend why someone would film themselves alone in their bedroom and put it online. I thought that was so bizarre. Now I can't imagine not putting my life online and talking to a camera alone in my bedroom; it's become my life.

I sing my life. It's like I'm having group therapy 350 days a year, and the people who come to the show get that, and they're there for that - whether it's to be lifted up, or to be lifted out, or just entertained or inspired, or to feel not so alone.

I will say that rowing in the first Olympics was probably one of the most proud moments in my life. What I enjoy about the sport is that it's definitive. Nobody can take away from the fact that you're an Olympian. It's indisputable. You get there on merit and merit alone.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, which doesn't feel like L.A. It's a bit different. It's still L.A. County, but it's not the same, it's not the kind of place where they embrace you for being a weirdo. You were just left alone with your Nintendo, and that was my life.

I've loved singing since forever. Whether it was with my sisters while cleaning the kitchen, putting shows on for my stuffed animals, writing songs about my stuffed animals, starting an a capella group with my cousins while on vacation, or awkwardly singing along to karaoke tracks alone in my bedroom - singing always found a way into my life.

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