Growing up in Ireland, when my family received important news, good or bad, we would boil water and make tea. It was the first thing I did when my father died in 1984. This ritual allowed me a moment to take in the enormity of what had happened.

Jessica Simpson is the youth ambassador for Operation Smile, and an episode of The Apprentice featured a team managing a charity concert she put on. Donald Trump came on stage and pledged a donation.

I came up through the theater. I came out of drama college and started working in the professional theater.

I tell about some of the female characters from the Bible so girls can be inspired and empowered and uplifted.

I'm a very what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person, and my family always laughs at me. They're like, 'You have minus-zero poker-face skills. We just have to look at your face and we know what's wrong with you.'

Doing this for so long, I realize that the media - you have a boss. And your boss wants you to provide the best material that you can. And he might put pressure on you to do it a way that you feel is unconstitutional. You might not like it. But you still gotta feed your family.

I love celery and people don't use it a lot. Celery and flavors in that family - it really brightens and is refreshing.

The only things that are really permanent are love, family, friendship, and that is a lesson. At the end of the day, that's really what it boils down to. The rest of it is just stuff.