Growing up, my next door neighbor was my best friend and an only child too.

I'm lucky because my two best friends are from kindergarten so they never thought that it was a big deal that I was in acting; they don't even ever talk about it. They still act all confused, like, 'What's going on?' when we go places and people come up to me.

I've been acting for a while, but theater is pretty different. I've never been in a play.

I'm not that rebellious. There's a part of me that wishes I was that.

My mother emigrated from Russia as a young child. She couldn't speak English and had no education. Her father died at age 32, leaving the family destitute. An uncle, who worked as a carpenter, supported the family.

Being superintendent or the superintendent's chief of staff is important work, but there's no chance it's as difficult as being a teacher, and I hesitate to say that it's as important.

I started studying music at the age of five and a half. My older sister was taking piano lessons. When her teacher left our apartment, I would get up on the piano bench and start picking out the notes that were part of my sister's lessons.

I think once you're in the public eye, whether you're a boss, a teacher or whatever you do, that you're automatically in the position of role model. You have people looking up to you, so whether you choose to accept it or not is a different question.