Be it a trip to the dentist, getting an injection or even coming home with a good report card, my reward always had to be a book. I didn't care much for anything else.

I want to get fitter. And yes, I'm learning hot yoga to get a bikini body. I don't believe one has to sport a size-zero figure to flaunt it. One just needs a fit, sexy and toned body.

Reading has made me more open, has improved my understanding, and has made me a better artiste, but it also makes me live in my own bubble. My mom keeps asking me, 'What do you read in that room the whole day?' Once I am into a book, I will finish it.

As actors, we want to choose somebody who has conflicts. I can't be always playing the girl next door. What's the challenge in that?

My parents are always a great litmus test. Based on the amount of shrieks my mother gives when we're out in public, her constant shock when somebody comes up and says something nice.

You know I don't think we need the Republicans to steal family values from us.

I love my heritage! I have my mother, who is an Irish-Italian, and my father who is African, so I have the taste buds of an Italian and the spice of an African.

Giada De Laurentiis, of 'Everyday Italian,' is not a chef, although she has culinary expertise - she was trained at the Cordon Bleu and worked as a private cook for a wealthy Los Angeles family.