My goal is to stay in good health, and every day, I wake up and pray that I do.
Keala Settle
I woke up one day and thought, 'Enough is enough with bullying myself.' The war is within you, and that's also where it's won. You just have to tackle your insecurities and then let them go.
'Miscast' is a family affair. It highlights so many different aspects of the industry in that one night, and it's a great evening.
No one can bully me better than me. I'm the first person to the party going, 'Don't worry - you don't have to cut me down, 'cause I'm already there.' I struggled with all those voices and gave them so much power, to the point where they took over my life.
The parts that I get to play are not based around the European beauty standards: They're more about character, and I love that.
What is so beautiful about a composer and a lyricist is that their job is to push a story along and not halt it.
I was never one of those actors who believed, 'I'm so gonna be an ingenue.' I already knew that wasn't gonna happen, and I decided not to torture myself with it.
I wake up in the morning, and I look in a mirror, and I go, 'Is this really all I got? Is this all the universe has given me?'
My mother played guitar by ear, and all of us sang except my father, bless his heart.
I was successfully hiding from the world on Broadway for about 25 years.
We weren't wearing shoes on a full-time basis until prom.
Everyone makes mistakes, and we need to learn to forgive ourselves.
Broadway is really, really hard.
My mother taught us all to bake. It literally calmed us down, and she was able to get rid of all her frustrations.
To be honest, being a fat girl, when people are telling you you need to eat, it's the biggest thrill of your life.
On days I'm not working, I don't wear a ton of other makeup, but if I have to look like I care, I'll use this By Terry Ombre Blackstar eye shadow stick in Frozen Quartz and Eyeko mascara.
I used to not walk out the door; I was so afraid. Everything from, 'You shouldn't be here,' down to, 'Girl, don't wear those pants.' I was so sad. I tried my best to not even look in a mirror!
No one was created to be alone.
As you get older, whatever your struggles may be - how you sound, how you look, how you dress - you grow into yourself a little bit more. You end up realizing the world wants you and not a carbon copy of six other people.
I have a lot of cultures within me - I'm basically chop suey.
If someone puts a character in front of me - no matter what it is, whether there has been a film or not - I want to be that character, not imitate it. There's a difference - a big difference.
I was causing trouble in high school, and in order to get me to stop and to pass, they put me into theater, and I ended up winning a Shakespeare competition. All I had to do was imitate people properly, and I ended up going to the finals when I was about 16.
I used to want to look like every European person that was being held up as a standard of beauty, whether in the industry or in life. Then I just realized that it's not in my genetic make-up. I decided instead to go for the gold in whatever I'm doing and just be as healthy as I can be.
Women put ourselves through so much. Really, everybody does; it's not a gendered thing. I think all of us are always gonna be tortured by some sense of inadequacy, no matter what. I don't know if there's a way to tell people not do this to themselves.
There is a struggle when you do represent so many countries within you, but that makes you who you are.
I'm an actress who likes to work as much as possible, so I'm very grateful for all these opportunities.
Music was always a part of my life.
It takes a damn village to get a show on Broadway!
Stevie Wonder was a big influence in my life.
We all have fears! Don't lie! We all have fears.
If anybody says they're not afraid of themselves, they're lying!
There's always doubt and fear. If you're a human being, everybody's got it.
I've always been afraid of who I am and not knowing what I can do.
I've always been the biggest bully to myself.
There were pockets of this career - whatever you want to call it - where I said, 'I've tapped out. I don't want to do this. I'm gonna go be a stage hand. I don't want to do this. I don't want to talk to people. I'm afraid of people. I'm going to walk away from everything that this was and is.'
As a human being, you find a way to survive, moment by moment, every single day of your life.
I used to be a pop singer; well, not used to be. I am an R&B singer. My emphasis was on Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin.
Musically, I'm a huge fan of Stephen Sondheim, and I love, love 'Sweeney Todd.'
I love people that go the distance. I hate things that are lukewarm. They've got to be one way or the other and go all the way.
Sometimes I get frustrated with my own self because I'm such a perfectionist.
I would have loved to play Atticus in 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' There's no music in it, but it doesn't mean I wouldn't want to do it!
I was born and raised in Hawaii.
For me, I want to say whether or not you believe in God - or a universe of any kind that's watching over any of us - you can have faith that things will go your way as much as you want to, and they won't.
I loved dancing.
It doesn't matter if you're a Victoria's Secret model or you're someone's 90-year-old grandma or you're a little kid who's getting bullied or you're that kid's bully - everybody feels like there's something going on that's more correct than what is. We all have to reach out to one another in that fear, and we'd be surprised to hear, 'Me, too.'
When I was younger, my mother wanted me to look like Claudia Schiffer. I was like, 'We're not even German, but all right.'
I never got to see the circus... I was always in love with being a trapeze artist, though.
