When I was growing up, my mother taught me and my sisters to celebrate each other - there was no room in our household for negativity. She taught us to embrace each other, and this was empowering for us. She also taught us the value of celebrating our differences.
Until I was 16, I read nothing but science fiction. I loved William Gibson and I still do. But my favourite book when I was growing up, for a long time, was 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson, which I must have read about a dozen times when I was a teenager.
Growing up, I was very aware that there weren't many people like me on the screen.
Growing up, I was a self-loathing Igor who carried the queen's books. My job was to be the sarcastic sherpa, quietly providing the farce and adoration, then becoming part of the wall when cued.
My absolute favorite growing up was 'Super Friends.' The assemblage of so many mighty heroes in one place was, to me, mind-blowing. It was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, and then sometimes Hawkman and some other, lesser heroes.
Growing up, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I felt with The Beatles legacy that there was pressure on me to do music, and while I always loved music and it was always around me at home, I thought about doing other things.
My lyrics come from my experiences growing up in life, trying to find out and express who I am. That's basically it. I'm not trying to be a prophet or anything like that. I'm just reflecting on life.
Growing up, I could never decide what I wanted to be because I wanted to be so many things.
Conway Twitty was always our local hero while I was growing up. He had a series of good bands. I wanted to sit in, if Conway would let me. And he did a couple of times.
Growing up a lonely only child prepared me for the years of solitude spent as a writer; years spent in the company of people who don't exist, imaginary people you have conversations with. It's a paid form of madness, this writing stuff.
Growing up in any big city, you get exposed to so many beautiful cultures. I've grown up with a lot of open eyes around me that's influenced my eyes to open.
Growing up in D.C. there are so many different types of educational and professional levels. They call D.C. 'Chocolate City' but just because we're all chocolate doesn't mean we're all the same. In D.C., everyone co-exists harmoniously but the lines are still drawn. And people don't really step over those lines.
'That's So Raven' was my favorite show growing up! I loved Raven so much! That show is what made me want to be on Disney Channel!
The black community sees itself as one group, and they are all experiencing the same experiences as a group with racism and whatnot, growing up in this country.
I had all the usual ambition growing up. I wanted to be a writer, a musician, a hockey player. I wanted to do something that wasn't nine to five. Acting was the first thing I tried that clicked.
When you're growing up, it's always nice to have someone you can relate and look up to. I'm proud of how I conduct my business and how I have accomplished all that I have accomplished, and hope that I can be a positive influence on not only the Mexican community but also young boxers and people all around the world.
I never listened to country music growing up.
When I was growing up, we had cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, goats, chickens - a whole menagerie.
The musicals that I loved, growing up - many, many. 'Singing in the Rain,' of course, is a classic, I love 'Meet Me in St. Louis.' I love 'Funny Face,' Stanley Donen's beautiful movie. It's really countless for me.
Since I was growing up in New Zealand where there's a hole in the ozone layer above us, we get so much sun damage to our skin, and the thing we can do to look after ourselves is use sunscreen during the day, but making sure your skin is well hydrated while you sleep.
I don't have too much spare time, but I try to play games as much as possible. I played a little growing up, but I never played any tennis games before.
To be completely honest, I never thought I could become a model growing up. I actually wanted to be an entertainment journalist.
Growing up in Nashville, especially in a music business family, means growing up with knowledge that seems like common sense until later in life when you realize people spend thousands of dollars a semester trying to learn or pretending to learn while looking for some intern job on music row.
Like most lit nerds, I'm a voracious reader. I never got enough poetry under my belt growing up but I do read it - some of my favorites, Gina Franco and Angela Shaw and Cornelius Eady and Kevin Young, remind me daily that unless the words sing and dance, what's the use of putting them down on paper.
Art was a way for me to express myself and for me to also escape because it was tough growing up as a child. We didn't have a lot of money. I was always creating. I was writing stories. I was doing comic books. I made my own universe.
When I was growing up in East Germay, everyone said there was no God. So I started looking for it myself.
Like most kids growing up, I had a very wide interest. I was interested in everything. I tried to take advantage of everything, from the sciences to music to writing to literature.
I never felt like I belonged in Minnesota when I was growing up there. That's why I was out the door as soon as I turned 18.
Growing up in America, I experienced two puberties. The first opened me up to the possibilities of adulthood. The second reinforced that for someone like me - an immigrant, a minority, an Asian-American - there were limits.
While I was growing up in Flushing, Queens, we socialized exclusively with other Chinese immigrants. I was forbidden to make contact with nonapproved, non-Chinese peers outside school. That was fine with me.
My biggest influence growing up was Avicii, who put me onto creating the sorts of melodies that feature throughout my songs today.
I felt like a typical kid growing up, and Lawnside is a nice town with a huge historical significance.
One curious thing about growing up is that you don't only move forward in time; you move backwards as well, as pieces of your parents' and grandparents' lives come to you.
Growing up in a family of actors, what's great about it is that they're very supportive and they understand what it's like to be an actor - the rejections, the highs and lows... and having a common language with them is great because you have shorthand speech.
I've always been a strong family advocate. I had a wonderful family growing up.
Growing up, I was always really inspired by Disney, and I had a great love of everything they created. My mum was huge fan, and she used to collect stills, and so they were all around the house, and we very much grew up on the early Disney films.
