There was a guitar that my uncle owned and never learnt to play. He sold it to my dad, and when I heard 'Layla', that was the tune that really grabbed me. I said to my dad, 'Wait, there's a guitar, right?'
The writing is the springboard for your intuitive stuff and then you see, maybe a colour of what you want to achieve. Then you bring in the technique you've learnt. But when you're on film, you're not always in control of that. That's what makes me believe in a kind of collective unconscious, a sort of experience you draw on.
For me, getting older doesn't mean throwing away a favourite-coloured lipstick or a fabulous pair of boots; instead, it's about harnessing all the great things I have learnt over the years about what does and doesn't suit me, and enjoying the way in which cleverly selected outfits can enhance the nice bits.
I've always tried to control everything and every aspect of my life, and this is maybe the biggest lesson I've learnt with motherhood - you just can't control everything, and I'm much more relaxed now about unexpected changes and things that happen.
Of my old tendency to overdo the dedication and deface the title page with florid compliments and obscure quotes which the recipient cannot read, I will say only that I learnt my lesson when I had to shell out with my own money for a hardback I'd vandalised and now limit myself to 'Good wishes.'
I think it is just a function of the fact that I moved around so much as a child that I learnt early on to make every place my home.
My faith is an important part of my life and over the years I've learnt that it takes a proud man to say he doesn't need anything. It has been a quiet strength and a backbone through a lot of difficult times.
Where there are no spectators, there is no sponsorship. Where there is no sponsorship, there is no money. Where there is no money, there are no officials with fingers in the pot. The lesson to be learnt from this is simple. If we want honest sport, we have to stop watching it.
From the beginning, I've had to juggle and weigh the silly things people say - and I've learnt that they're meaningless, and they're mostly inaccurate. So I don't worry about it, because there's nothin' for me to deal with.
I've learnt that if I tell myself I'm not allowed something, I binge on it later. So if I want chocolate, I have chocolate. If I want biscuits, I have biscuits. I love cake. I just love cake.
If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that I don't think a man ever looks better than when he's in a suit. So I'm wearing them increasingly, not in my personal life, but in my professional life, and I'm really enjoying it.
I've learnt that if you can't get rid of something, you have to find a way to live with it.
Having learnt my basics in theatre, I always feel film is a collaborative effort. If you do your part well and help the person in front of you in realising his or her potential, the film invariably comes out good.
I learnt tennis, swimming, basketball and several others, but the sport I loved the most was golf.
Agnes Varda changed my view of cinema; she directs from an artistic point of view, and a film is most of all the expression of an artistic director. I learnt to enter the world and the imagination of a director.
The biggest thing I've learnt is not to limit myself by the norm or what I should be doing.
I live without regrets. There are certain things I have done, mistakes that I made, that I would change, but I don't regret them at all, because I've learnt from them.
I have learnt a lot about theatre, and I would like to know the same about film.
I've learnt that you tend most to make a div of yourself when you're trying to cover up the fact that you don't know what you're doing. And that simply saying 'I don't know what I'm doing' is a massive relief.
I don't want my work to be heavy. The challenge is to make it interesting and engaging, keeping in mind the need for method acting. This is what I have learnt from Bharat Muni's 'Natya Shastra' and from the Russian theatre legend Stanislavsky.
At a young age, I was interested in comic books, which was really how I learnt to read. The name Cage came from a comic book character called Power Man.
The environment on the 'Chewing Gum' set is where everyone can work to the best of their abilities and everyone is happy. So, if I'm not happy with something, I've learnt that you don't start flailing about; you go in quietly, and there's a conversation.
I've learnt that your life is more interesting and fulfilling when you don't lead it in a straight line and you go off on zigzags. I've made it a rule that if life becomes too comfortable and easy, I'll disrupt it.
A man can't pass on, like a mother could, an awareness of your body, or sensuality, or what it means to be a woman. I was never taught what femininity was. I learnt it - or rather I invented it - on my own. I tended not to talk at all, if people were staring at me.
I would type in things like, 'How to play beginner songs on guitar,' and one of the first I learnt was 'Hey, Soul Sister' by Train. I taught myself these chords I didn't know the name of and slowly started to get the hang. I was obsessed with it.
I took the fear of marriage from my parents' relationship, because I didn't want to end up in a relationship like that, whereas my brothers and sisters learnt a lesson from it and made sure they didn't carry it on into their own marriages.
I met a 13-year-old black child, Raymond, who had never been to school and had never learnt any words, yet it seemed to me that he was intelligent. It became apparent after a short period that Raymond thought in terms of visual signs and movements.
When I left my home to become an actress, my father didn't give me a single penny. I struggled a lot, and they had no idea what I went through. My grandfather even asked me to drop my surname when he learnt I was joining films.
I probably deserve a bit of a kicking. And having been to boarding school, I've learnt to enjoy a good beating.
I did many stupid things. I made many mistakes, but I learnt from everything. I still make mistakes; I still learn from them. Nobody is perfect.
I've learnt that I've had the best results from just trying to be me, trying to make a movie or TV show I want to see or write a script I want to read, and that's really all I can offer - being authentic.
There are not many things in my life I can be absolutely proud of or certain I got right, but one of them is that I've got better as an actor. I've learnt how to do it. And I still have enough energy to do it.
When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day.
I learnt to drive at around eleven years old. In an old jeep on a field in Colorado. There were lots of ditches. I could barely see over the steering wheel.
I've learnt that there's acting for film, acting for theatre, and acting for an audition.
I've learnt that there's absolutely no difference in Telugu and Hindi industries. Everything is almost identical. The only difference is that Hindi films have a wider release.
