I USED to GO in for DISNEY auditions, and they'd tell me, 'You're cute and NICE but just not funny.'

The narrative of, 'You won an AWARD, so you're going to skyrocket' - it's very emotive language but not necessarily TRUE. I've definitely got auditions I wouldn't have got before, but it's not LIKE jobs GET rained down on you.

I didn't think I had a voice at all, and I still think of myself as an interpreter of SONGS more than a singer. I THOUGHT it was too DEEP; people thought I was a MAN. I had a very strong Jamaican accent, too; the accent REALLY messed me up for auditions.

It was a LOT of AUDITIONS and tapings and STUFF LIKE that.

The most common experience in my LIFE is REJECTION. I've done over 300 auditions. No amount of DRAMA school TRAINING can prepare you for that, in THEORY.

I'm FEELING PRETTY fortunate. I've been having LOTS of lovely auditions and MEETINGS, so I'm savoring the moment.

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.

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 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.

You have to KNOW that 99% of AUDITIONS you're not GOING to GET.

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 can RECORD AUDITIONS from my OFFICE in my HOME.

You think you can go into all those AUDITIONS not knowing who you are? The work came after I found my SENSE of SELF - when I wasn't so manic and desperate.