I started dating older men and I would fall in love with them. I thought they could teach me about life.

Dad worked his entire career as an aviation technician. Mom was a legal secretary who became a teacher. We lived a simple American life.

The most challenging part of being a dad is self-restraint. So often your instinct is to teach and tell. I am constantly reminding myself to listen to them.

When I realized I was having trouble reading I was too embarrassed to ask for help. Some teachers believed in me but I just wasn't focused on school - I was into the music and trying to please my dad.

I had always loved music. I grew up listening to classic country Waylon Jennings Merle Haggard. My dad loved Vern Gosdin and Keith Whitley. So I kept going to class and started getting totally into playing guitar and teaching myself these songs.

Although becoming a singer was my plan A after first hearing Whitney Houston when I was 17 I started off with plan B by going to the teacher-training college that my dad went to. It was a slow coming of age.

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.