I think the first role I ever played was Mr. Bumble in a production of 'Oliver.'
I don't remember ever not singing. My mother loved music, and she taught me songs, country music, spirituals. I would sing for people and pass the hat when I was 4.
As a child, I would put on shows in my neighborhood with friends and perform Barbra Streisand songs for my classmates.
I was a dancer from about the age of four, so I was always performing and forcing my parents to watch my brother and I do 'Jesus Christ Super Star' in the living room. My first step was community theater, and then I started to do films.
I did a theatrical musical, Annie Warbucks, when I was 11. We did a tour and we stopped by Los Angeles.
I was pretty much tap dancing for attention from a very early age.
I did my first show in second grade. I was a munchkin in 'The Wizard of Oz.'
I think the first role I ever played was the Magic Carpet in 'Aladdin Jr.' I did a lot of tap dancing and not a lot of dialogue. But I loved it so much, and I loved the way people responded to the characters.
I got on stage for the first time when I was seven. From seven until I was about nine it was probably more to do with just being on stage and having the attention.
I wasn't one of those hideous children who make their parents sit through hour-long performances when you're seven. I didn't do anything like that thankfully.
I was in my dad's church, his Baptist church, and I think the first song I ever performed was 'Jesus Be a Fence Around Me.'
I always performed when I was a child. My parents got very annoyed, because my brother and I had our little bedrooms upstairs, and I would plaster the house with posters with arrows pointing upstairs.
My love of performing goes way back. My mom got me on 'Romper Room' when I was five - it was my favorite show. But they couldn't control me. I would run up and smack the camera, and I'd jump around and do my little flips and routines. I wish I could get that tape now.
I began acting on stage when I was 7 years old. My first role was as Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz' at Chicago's Center on Deafness in Northbrook, Illinois.
I did the 'Wizard of Oz' in third grade, and I was a witch.
I used to make my grandparents pay a dollar to watch me sing 'Grease' songs and 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' in their living room. I was always an entertainer, and I would always do all that stuff, but it slowly evolved into a career, which is great, but it wasn't a plan.
I've been performing my whole life. My mom signed me up for a theater program when I was five - I was the evil queen in 'Once Upon a Mattress.'
There is no correlation between a childhood success and a professional athlete.
I've been acting since I was six years old, but not professionally.
When I was about six or seven, I did this character reenactment performance where I read a monologue from 'Peter Pan.' I got into a complete Peter Pan outfit and did a little paragraph from the script - and I ended up winning an award for it.
I began working on stage in Atlanta when I was 3, doing a dance act with the Ragamuffins of Rhythm. Later I became a juvenile straight man for the older comedians. After that I worked out a stand-up act.
When you spend your entire life as a child actress, being told where to go and where to stand, you're performing constantly for people. It definitely breeds the kind of person who's dependent on other people's approval.
I was doing my own shows when I was 11 years old.
I did a lot of acting, funnily enough, unprofessionally, as a kid. From when I was 10 years old until I was about 19, I was always doing little sketches with my friends, and doing different accents and voices.
It was not easy for my mother, being a struggling actress and raising a child. We were these two sort of vagabonds, never knowing where the money was going to come from. She always says she couldn't afford a babysitter, which is why she put me on the stage.
