Andrea Navedo

The most important thing you can do for yourself is get an education. Learn, listen, and respond. You have to study and practice to get better at your craft and to widen your skill set.

My dad was in my life, and he was actually a very positive influence on me in my life. He was always there. He was a great dad. But my parents divorced when I was 5, so I grew up in a single-parent home.

When I was 11, I went to Puerto Rico for a month to stay with my grandmother. To see the way people lived there and experience my own culture was wonderful.

It's really easy to give in to, 'I want to raise my kids,' 'I want to be the best mom, so I have to give up my dreams.' I don't believe that. I think, if anything, being a living example to your children is beautiful.

My mom was a single mother in the South Bronx living in adverse conditions. Seeing her struggles to get herself off of welfare and get back into the workplace and give me and my sister a better life - it's an inspiration for me.

There's so much humor in serious things sometimes.

I try to eat almost the same thing every day, as it makes food shopping and what to eat much easier as well as healthier.

Every mother wishes the best for her children.

The women are so strong in my family.

In real life, we think people don't change, but they do. People do change in profound ways with all the different major things that happen in their lives.

After moving to California, I decided to go back to school and get an education on various aspects of the entertainment industry.

Soap operas are like TV boot camp. You have to be able to self-direct, learn a ton of dialogue in a short amount of time, and deliver a performance in one or two takes.