My MOM WOULD Drive Me From Cleveland To New York City And Use My Dad's HOTEL POINTS For Auditions. They Were The Most Supportive Parents That I COULD Have. Without Them, I Wouldn't Have Gotten Anywhere.

Sometimes You're Not Always On Or At Your Best, Especially During Auditions. So If You GO In And You Don't NAIL It, EVEN If They're LIKE, 'We Don't Need To See You Again,' Get A Friend, Get A Video Camera, And Film You Doing The STUFF Again.

I THINK The Best WAY For Me To Go Into AUDITIONS Psychologically Was To SAY, 'You're Not Going To GET It. This Is The Only Acting Experience You're Going To Have With This Material.'

My FATHER Would Take Me To AUDITIONS And Put Me In The Room RIGHT In The Corner Because He Was Watching Me; He Couldn't Get A Babysitter. He'd Be At The Nuyorican Poets Cafe In The LES Until Four In The Morning, TRYING To Tell His Story And Using His Craft, But Because He Had A Kid That Didn't Let Him STOP.

I Didn't Want To Be KNOWN As The Reality-show STAR TRYING To Be An ACTRESS, So I Kept A Lot Of The Failed Auditions To Myself.

I HATE Auditions - When I'm Doing Them, I Can't WAIT To GET Out The BLEEDING DOOR.

I TREAT Auditions As If They Are Gold. I Try To MAKE EVERY One Count.

I SOMETIMES Self-edit When It Comes To AUDITIONS And GO, 'They're Not GOING To CAST Me, So I'm Not Going To Do It.'

I've Grown Up Seeing The Pros And Cons But I Love It And I've Always Wanted To Act. Throughout All The Rejections At AUDITIONS, And Especially When I FINALLY Did Get Something, Both My PARENTS Have Been So Supportive And Always Told Me It Is All About Passion And, If I Was Doing It Because I Love It, There's No Wrong CHOICE.

When I Was About 6, My Cousin Was Very Active In A Filipino Repertory COMPANY, Doing Musicals And Plays. Her Aunt Was One Of The Founders Of The Company, And She Told My MOM That There Were These Auditions For 'The King And I,' And That They Needed Kids. I Auditioned, Got In And The Love AFFAIR STARTED From There And Just Kept Going.