Knowing who the actors were as you were designing them helped with Catherine's beauty and Renee's frailty they directed me visually just by who they were.

I thought it might be a good move to get into a beauty contest so I tried for Miss Pennsylvania and won. I think that helped me get noticed at least by the people of Pennsylvania.

It absolutely helped - to write the father in both 'Juicy' and 'Beasts ' I had to see the whole story from his point of view. All of a sudden I understood more of what my own father must be going through - the fear the frustration the anger... the hope that he'll leave a legacy.

Paul Farmer has helped to build amazing health care system in one of the poorest areas of Haiti. He founded Partners in Health which serves the destitute and the sick in many parts of the world from Haiti to Boston and from Russia to Peru.

My favorite designer is Christian Lacroix not just because his clothes are amazing and I love them but because he's so nice. When I did his fashion show he was the first one to arrive there and he helped everyone.

My size has helped make me an amazing performer too. The cliche of the Funny Fat Friend: I absolutely was that character - I am that character... It's a complicated bag of tools I acquired and I've put them all to work onstage.

We incorporated new tastes and flavors into our kids' diets from a very early age which helped to develop their palates and prevented them from becoming picky eaters. We don't buy junk food and give them options of fresh fruit yogurt raw almonds or dried whole grain cereals for snack time.

English people don't have very good diction. In France you have to pronounce very particularly and clearly and learning French at an early age helped me enormously.