At first, I simply wanted to get a basic understanding of sign language, but as time went on, I really got the bug and wanted to become proficient so that I could make good use of my skills.

I'm hoping I can fill a gap by helping to advise people on acting mechanics - the kinds of things that, looking back, I would have really benefited from as a teenager.

It's really important to remember that disability is diversity, and that disabled actors and disabilities are something that is hugely under-represented in film.

I've done my fair share of fundraising over the years, and I know how difficult that can be, so I could only imagine people's reaction when I was asking them to part with their hard-earned cash for a movie.

Education is about women and girls. It is important for girls to go to school because they will become their children's first teachers someday.

When I was superintendent of Denver Public Schools, I saw the potential of some of our best and brightest students cut short, punished for the actions of others - kids who had grown up and done well in our school system, and kids who know no other home but America. This is unacceptable.

The introduction of many minds into many fields of learning along a broad spectrum keeps alive questions about the accessibility, if not the unity, of knowledge.

I went to Australia from England when I was right at that age when you learn to read. It's a very confronting thing, traveling halfway around the world and having a mother who was deeply unhappy at ending up in Australia, so you look for some way to find comfort, I guess, and I found it in books.