I remember, as a young Catholic girl in high school, seeing 'The Exorcist,' and it scared the wits out of me.

I drew as a child, they tell me. I can vaguely remember doing it. And then I drew again in the late years at high school.

I went to Fountain Valley High School. I remember watching Grove Shakespeare productions here. It left a big impression on me.

I remember, in middle school, I went to four different schools. That was a rough patch. But it's also what shaped me as a person.

I remember being young in the backseat when my grandma would take me to school, and I would be literally singing and belting out Tina Turner at 3 years old.

When I was in grade school, I remember singing in a chorus where they actually had two parts going. It was very easy for me to pick out the harmonies, and I kind of just went with it.

I wanted to act when I was young. When I was 12, I asked the head of English at my school, 'Can I audition?' and he said, 'What would we want you for?' And I remember going, 'Oh yeah. Why would they want me?'

In fact, if they didn't let me commute, I would not have taken the role because I wanted to graduate high school with my classmates. I remember my agent's jaw dropping when I told him if I couldn't commute I didn't want the role.

I remember really bonding with the first generation kids, the Chinese Canadian kids, and in high school bonding with the Latin kids and the East Indian kids. It was very interesting because it made me open to lots of musical sounds.

The vast majority of kids in my school went on to college. That's just what you did. And I remember feeling like, 'No, I'm not doing that.' The idea that college was next, that it was a given, meant it was of no interest to me. So I didn't go.

I wish that I had been in 'School of Rock' because, when I was younger, that movie was the movie. It really made me want to be an actor - that's so cheesy. But I remember seeing it when I was little and loving it so much, being like, 'I wish that I was in that.'

I can still remember my mum (a voracious, if not discriminating, reader - I have seen everything from the sublime to the ridiculous by her bed, from Ian Rankin and Elmore Leonard to Barbara Cartland and James Patterson) taking me to get my library card when I was four and not yet at school.

I remember, in middle school, we did the musical 'Oliver.' I loved the movie, and I always wanted to play Oliver. It might not have been stated, but the boys auditioned for Oliver, and the girls auditioned for Nancy. But we also did a play called 'Li'l Abner,' and I was really excited that they let me put on a suit and a fake mustache.

In high school, I used to draw on my arms with a Sharpie. I knew I was gonna have a lot of tattoos. I'm not exactly classified as an artist, so my drawings could only go so far as I could take 'em. Now my tats are all a story: There's not one I can remember where I got a tat just to get a tat. It's all a part of me. I don't think I'm finished yet.

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