I was born in Corpus Christi Texas the youngest of four girls including my oldest sister Lisa who has special needs. My mom was a special education teacher and my dad worked on the Army base. We weren't wealthy but we were determined to succeed.

My dad was a football player - a soccer player - for Manchester United and I loved playing football but I also happened to be the guy in class who was pretty good at sight reading. My teacher gave me scripts and I was very comfortable.

I had my heart set on becoming an English teacher but stumbled into acting after meeting a theatrical agent in my dad's restaurant in San Diego.

My dad remembers being in school with my uncle and the teacher would say outright to the class that the Japanese were second-class citizens and shouldn't be trusted.

My humanitarian work evolved from being with my family. My mom my dad they really set a great example for giving back. My mom was a nurse my dad was a school teacher. But my mom did a lot of things for geriatrics and elderly people. She would do home visits for free.

When I was in nursery school the teachers asked me y'know 'What does your dad do for a living?' So I said 'He helps women get pregnant!' They called my mom and they were like 'What exactly does your husband do?'

My father was my teacher. But most importantly he was a great dad.

I'm still shy - I'm no good at my children's parent-teacher conferences and I'm slowly learning how to ask for what I want. But I now know that I have a reserve of courage to draw upon when I really need it. There's nothing that I'm too scared to have a go at.

It's cool for me because I'm a director but I'm also a teacher. I'm a lover of cinema and I love working with people who are hungry and have the energy to really do better work.

In my school people liked the gym teachers because they were the football or soccer coaches. But look if they're cool they get respect.