My parents are from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and I feel like it's an old Southern thing where people say that, as a kid, you can be an astronaut or a ballerina or a singer, but as a grown person, you need to go and get a job.
My father was a police officer before he retired. One of my brothers is also a police officer, and I think they kind of expected I would do something along those lines, like become a fireman or something.
When I was little, my parents really only wanted me to be a scientist or a doctor; they had never even heard of law school. I think even these days if you were to tell your mother you want to be a fashion designer, or an artist or a writer, a lot of Asian parents would be alarmed because they don't think that's a secure career.
While the women of the older generation were thankful if only they succeeded in obtaining 'a work and a duty,' however monotonous and wearing it might be, the will of the younger generation for a pleasurable labour has fortunately increased.
When you start at catering college, nobody prepares you for a book tour or public speaking.
I have seen too many people in my career think that there is some natural progression to life, with certain career milestones preceding whatever you may want in your personal life. Unfortunately, life doesn't know it is supposed to follow a schedule.
I don't think the people wanna see me play Clyde Johnson the architect.
No man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it. The honeymoon would be as short in that case as in any other, and its moments of ecstasy would be ransomed by years of torment and hatred.
Here in England, my becoming an actor was considered unimaginative.
I had always believed that I would retire with Planned Parenthood.
My goal had been to win a championship, work toward the Hall of Fame, have my jersey retired by the team and I'd go in as a lifelong New York Giant, but I'm now resigned to the fact that this won't happen.
If you'd asked me at the start of my career I would have said I was going to be a manager. I may still be in future, but there seemed to be an expectation it was a natural progression for me.
I never thought I would model for more than a few years.
I always assumed I'd spend my life happily performing in artsy-fartsy little theaters.
Part of the reason why my folks - why any immigrant family - wants their kids to go into law or medicine is because there's the promise of reliable work. That's a powerful idea that got hammered into my head growing up: Be this thing, or else you'll starve.
You would think that when someone accepts a position with a company, they would assume that their life will be better off because they have that job rather than a different one.
I thought I would be a dramatic actor - everyone starts that way.
I was the first one in my family to go away to college. I came from a small town where there was no guidance in the high school at all. It was a mill town, and I never knew anyone who made their living from the arts. When you did go away to college, you went away to be something - an engineer, or a teacher, or a chemist.
But I was going to be a teacher my entire life, so I wasn't counting on money to much.
I always saw myself working for the family business.
Most women are not programmed to prefer a great career to a great man and a family. They feel they were sold a bill of goods at college and by the media.
I was under the assumption that the first job you get out of college is the job you have for the rest of your life. That's how my parents were; my parents have been teachers for as long as I've known 'em. I was worried that I'd gotten into something that I was going to hate.
When I started writing, I just hoped for a nice little paperback series.
I fell into playwriting accidentally, took some classes in it, and also took creative writing classes, but I really didn't expect it to be a career because I didn't believe there was a way to make money as a playwright without being lucky and I didn't feel particularly lucky.
I did not see myself as a leading lady. I thought I was really funny-looking and I would never be the lead, and I certainly would never do film or television. I wanted to do theater. I wanted to be the grand dame of the American stage.
