ALEXANDRA SHIPP

My influences are, number one, hand to Jesus, Halle Berry. I think that she's so brilliant, and I love everything that she does, even 'Catwoman.'

I was a big fan of Aaliyah's. Growing up, my mom was a big fan of her music. When I grew to have my own taste in music, I really loved 'One In A Million.' That was my jam.

I just have always wanted to shave my head. I think every woman should just do it once in her lifetime.

I have a very long and beautiful love affair with Elvis Presley. I own every record he ever made, so I have about 150, almost 200 records of his. So much that I haven't even listened to all of them. I see an Elvis record that I don't have, and I'll buy it and put it in my collection.

'Try Again' - every time I hear that song, it just brings a smile to your face. When you're feeling like crap, and you hear, 'Dust yourself off and try again,' it kind of just puts you in a different mindset, 100 percent.

Nickelodeon fans are my first fans, so I have much love and adoration for them.

Hollywood is a dirty temptress that has stolen my wallet way too many times. It's a great town, but at the same time, it's a hustle.

With music, you're really showing someone a piece of your soul. You're saying, 'This is mine. I wrote this, I made this, I'm performing this. This is how I'm presenting it to you.' There's something really scary about that, but there's also something next-worldly about it, too.

By the time I was 10, I was doing plays for Phoenix theater. My first lead role was as the Stinky Cheese Man. I got a taste of the limelight, and I just couldn't stop. It was a way for me to be the artistic, geeky kid that I was, and not get beat up.

I feel like as a whole, when it comes to the "other" in the US - whatever that looks like for each individual person, whether it be someone who's LGBTQ or someone of color or someone who's just a religion that they've never heard of - whether you're in entertainment or whether you're in any other business, we're not as evolved as we'd like to think.

Hollywood is a dirty temptress that has stolen my wallet way too many times. It's a great town, but at the same time, it's a hustle.

Nickelodeon fans are my first fans, so I have much love and adoration for them.

With music, you're really showing someone a piece of your soul. You're saying, 'This is mine. I wrote this, I made this, I'm performing this. This is how I'm presenting it to you.' There's something really scary about that, but there's also something next-worldly about it, too.

I have a very long and beautiful love affair with Elvis Presley. I own every record he ever made, so I have about 150, almost 200 records of his. So much that I haven't even listened to all of them. I see an Elvis record that I don't have, and I'll buy it and put it in my collection.

By the time I was 10, I was doing plays for Phoenix theater. My first lead role was as the Stinky Cheese Man. I got a taste of the limelight, and I just couldn't stop. It was a way for me to be the artistic, geeky kid that I was, and not get beat up.

I was a big fan of Aaliyah's. Growing up, my mom was a big fan of her music. When I grew to have my own taste in music, I really loved 'One In A Million.' That was my jam.

'Try Again' - every time I hear that song, it just brings a smile to your face. When you're feeling like crap, and you hear, 'Dust yourself off and try again,' it kind of just puts you in a different mindset, 100 percent.

Aaliyah revolutionized what it was to be a young black woman in America. She made it OK to be a nerd and to be a tomboy. She made it OK to wear leather and chains. She was the first black girl with an ombre. She was so far ahead of everything and everyone. It was just who she was. She was an innovator, but she didn't even realize it.

I moved to Los Angeles when I was 17. I had just booked 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakwell.' I thought, 'Well, I'm just going to move to L.A. and become famous. 'Squeakwell' is going to launch me to that point.' Well, I didn't end up working for, like, three years afterward. That's kind of the name of the game.

My influences are, number one, hand to Jesus, Halle Berry. I think that she's so brilliant, and I love everything that she does, even 'Catwoman.'

I would love to say that the world is changing in the movie industry for people of color, women, the LGBTQ community and other minorities since I began my career, and that we are evolving as a species, but I think that given this social and political climate, I'm at a loss. It's like running a marathon and thinking you're halfway done and you can see the finish line - but the finish line is actually the first checkpoint.

I feel like as a whole, when it comes to the "other" in the US - whatever that looks like for each individual person, whether it be someone who's LGBTQ or someone of color or someone who's just a religion that they've never heard of - whether you're in entertainment or whether you're in any other business, we're not as evolved as we'd like to think.

I just have always wanted to shave my head. I think every woman should just do it once in her lifetime.