It was the late '70s when my parents met. My dad was a lighting director for a soap opera, and my mom was a temp at the studio. They moved into a house in The Valley in L.A., to a neighborhood that was leafy and affordable.
I love getting into people's brains and understanding the creative impetus for something.
I used to be a calligrapher for weddings and events - that was my side job while I was auditioning. I think handwritten notes are a lost art form. When I booked my first pilot, my dad wrote me a letter that I still have. The idea of someone taking the time to put pen to paper is really special.
I think you have to make time for yourself so that work doesn't become the end-all be-all.
If you have an Ina Garten-level roasted-chicken recipe, it's a game changer. I bring that to dinner parties and make a lot of friends.
If I have to do a red carpet, and there is a whole team, then it is an hour with the hair and make-up. But if I am just going out with friends, it is 15 minutes max in front of the mirror. A quick five minutes on my face, and I always wear my hair up.
I'm a California girl, right? I grew up with that farm-to-table dining before it was sweeping the nation.
To describe something as being black and white means it is clearly defined. Yet when your ethnicity is black and white, the dichotomy is not that clear. In fact, it creates a grey area.
Tatcha Face Moisture Mask and a facial by Nicola Joss, who literally massages your face from inside your mouth! Insane, right?
When I get ready to go out, it's half hour and we're out of the door. I don't want to waste time getting ready: I want to go and have fun.
My mother was a free-spirited clinical therapist, and I had the most hard-working father, a television lighting director by trade. My mum raised me to be a global citizen, with eyes open to sometimes harsh realities.
Catty is not cool. I can't think of anything less becoming than a man who talks about people behind their backs.
Once you develop a comfort level with someone, that translates on camera.
Women who have understood fashion and style for so long have always known it's not about having more pieces. It's about having the right pieces and having the pieces that are of a great quality and look like you know what you're doing. You don't have to have a million things on.
I grew up in L.A. in a school that was diverse, but it was not really integrated, so I didn't ever fully fit in with the black girls or the white girls or the Latina girls.
On a normal day, I love a shift dress with flats and a little cropped jacket. That, for me, is my travel wear if it's not too chilly - you can throw a scarf over your legs if it's cold on the plane!
I'm an actress, a writer, the editor-in-chief of my lifestyle brand 'The Tig', a pretty good cook, and a firm believer in handwritten notes.
Put on a sweater and really great sneakers with a big scarf, and you'll look so stylish. For me, they are an everyday essential.
Be kind to yourself.
I started working at a soup kitchen in skid row of Los Angeles when I was 13 years old, and the first day, I felt really scared. I was young, and it was rough and raw down there, and though I was with a great volunteer group, I just felt overwhelmed.
There couldn't possibly be a more label-driven industry than acting, seeing as every audition comes with a character breakdown: 'Beautiful, sassy, Latina, 20s'; 'African American, urban, pretty, early 30s'; 'Caucasian, blonde, modern girl next door'. Every role has a label; every casting is for something specific.
