Somewhere in my wildest childhood I must have done something right. Being able to make a boyhood dream come true is one thing but to have a kid come along and thrill his dad like Brett Hull has thrilled me over his career is too much for one guy to handle.

My mom grew up in Kansas my dad in Indiana. They had boring childhoods.

I wasn't aware of my dad being an actor when I was young. I remember there was an Australian children's entertainer on television called Ralph Harris and when I'd say my father was an actor kids would say you know 'oh is he Ralph Harris?' And I had to say no and then they would lose interest.

I'm an ambassador for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and one of the children his wish was to go to the Emmys so he's going to be my date along with my husband and my dad and his girlfriend. So we're going to have a really fun night and it's going to be really exciting. I'm really excited for him to experience that.

My dad was born in Chicago in 1908... his parents came from Russia. They settled in Chicago where they lived in a little tiny grocery store with eight or nine children - in the backroom all together - and my grandmother got the idea to go into the movie business.

I feel very warm towards Mum and Dad for giving us the independence they did. My childhood and the fact we didn't have a TV gave me a boundless imagination.

Being an only child I didn't have any other family but my mom and dad really since the rest of my family lived quite far away from London.

The last thing I want my child to see is Dad running around in the middle of the pack. That would really upset me. And that would upset him. I would be embarrassed to take him to school with kids saying 'Hey how'd your dad do this weekend?' 'Well he finished fifth or sixth'.

I wanted my children to have the same exposure to the water I had. My strongest memories of Northeast Harbor are going in a small Whaler with my dad looking for osprey.

Comedy was why I got into acting the first place. Peter Sellers was a huge influence on my wanting to act. I grew up with him and found him hysterical. The Pink Panther films were an inspiration from my earliest childhood days when I was watching them with my brother and my dad.