“I lived in my head. I had a very active imagination. I could play alone in my room for hours and see whole movies in my head. This blurring of the line between reality and fantasy is something I think all kids have, and I was very lucky because my parents encouraged it. They really let me embrace the idiosyncratic, to carve out my own identity based on my own interests.”

“Some people think I’m stupid for taking so many supporting and smaller roles, but I love it. It reminds me of being in a company of actors, where you might be playing Lady Macbeth in one play and a nameless girl in another; you learn so much.”

On her support for President Obama:
“I really believed in him as a candidate, and I got to know my country. I hadn’t been in the Midwest before, nor really in the South. I went door-to-door and it was great. I’m an advocate of youth participation in politics, and I hope there will be a swell of participation again, but I hope it’s based on actual knowledge of policy.”