That's the beauty of the acting world. You can play so many different characters who know and do so many things that you have no idea about as yourself. So I'm a big fan of workshops and classes and learning new things because you can always apply it. It's your little supply bag of creativity. Keep filling it up.
Daniela Ruah
I think my mom put me in tap classes when I was three, which I never pursued. I don't know how to tap. Then we moved to Portugal when I was five, and, I think, she put me in ballet classes immediately. Then I was expelled for being too restless - I am too high energy - and was told I could go do rhythm gymnastics.
Nature is a beautiful thing - it does what it needs to do when it needs to do it.
There's this accent that I think everybody has when they grow up going to an international school. It's a mix of not quite English, not quite American. When I moved to L.A., it just went completely American.
I started my career in Portugal, and the longest I've ever played a character was for about a year, which is how long our TV shows last.
It's a birthmark called nevus of Ota. It covers the whole white of my eye and darkens it. The square of the eye, the white part, is completely dark on my right eye, not just the iris.
I do go online a lot.
I'm always competitive, but if I didn't win fair and square, I didn't win. And I want to win if I'm genuinely better than my competitor.
I'm not from the States, so Thanksgiving, for me, was never a huge tradition.
I was born in Boston, and when I was two and a half, my parents moved to Minneapolis. And then from there, when I was five, we moved back to Portugal. But before that, a lot of family members had come to visit us, and we had been back to Portugal many times because my whole family lived there.
No actor has a flawless career, but in the long term, I'd like my name to be synonymous with good quality.
With River's birth, nothing went according to plan. My water broke three weeks early, and after 12 hours of labor and Pitocin, I was in incredible pain and still only one-centimeter dilated.
I'm starting my own family, and there is no other feeling like it.
I was always such a skinny kid, so I kind of grew up with an 'I hate skinny' mentality.
When you go to an audition, don't hang on to it because no matter how well you feel it went or how badly, you just never know what the outcome is going to be.
No actor in the world started off at the top.
There's no better training than working on a soap opera because of the amount of hours, the amount of pages you do a day are unbelievable. It's the best training I had in terms of discipline.
I've met real female NCIS agents who were smaller than I am. They were very petite.
My main goal, when I started acting, was to show as much versatility as possible because I like playing diverse roles.
A Portuguese is not going to punch you for no reason.
I was born here in the States. I moved to Portugal when I was five. And then my parents put me in an English school.
I know a lot of procedurals have huge viewership, yet they're never nominated for awards.
I do have a huge fascination for science, and I love to hear what my dad has to say. He used to take me into minor surgeries when I was a kid and let me watch, so I definitely have a passion for it, but it's not as big a passion as I have for acting and creating characters.
Having a gun in your hand is very empowering.
No one wants perfection. I want a confident, smart guy, obviously, but what's hot is a guy who doesn't have all the answers. We gals like a guy we can help because, ultimately, we like being needed.
I'd rather have a house that's nice but usable.
Early on, my parents noticed an aptitude for being a show-off. I loved attention. I was always saying, 'Watch me do this, watch me do that,' which I now realize with my own kids is a phase that most kids go through.
I really thrive being onstage.
I was one of the lucky people who found what I loved at a really young age. When I was 16, I got my first job in a Portuguese soap opera, and I realized how much I really loved it.
I majored in dance in college.
There's a very fine line between martial arts and dance. Kicking with your foot stretched out, or kicking with your foot flat in someone's face, in terms of flexibility, it's all kind of the same thing.
I try to be as full-time mommy as possible and also full-time working woman. That is the example I grew up with. Working mommy but also very present.
I like being pregnant - feeling the baby moving, acknowledging the miracle that we're capable of producing a whole other being from scratch. I feel more like a woman than ever before. There's just an all-around sensation of power.
After River was born, I remember being in the bedroom by myself, overwhelmed because he wasn't latching well, and I yelled, 'Dave, I need help! Can you get in here?' Suddenly my husband, my mom, and my in-laws were all in the doorway. I just melted into tears. It really does take a village.
I would suggest it to any actor to get some movement classes because it really, really makes a difference.
You'd rather have a good headshot that cost you a little more but that's going to last than pay less money for a headshot that's not good enough.
The goal is to work as much as possible in projects I respect and that will help me grow.
As I understand from the real military personnel who I've had the opportunity to speak to over the last few years, humor is very much used to diffuse stress. I think that if they were to keep it as serious as the situations often are, there would be a lot more nervous breakdowns.
I love playing complex characters.
Acting with your mom? It's not something you get to do very often.
