I was the youngest child and got a lot more freedom than my brother and sister. I used to wander doing my own thing under the radar but I didn't get in bad bad trouble.

I was raised by a lady that was crippled all her life but she did everything for me and she raised me. She washed our clothes cooked our food she did everything for us. I don't think I ever heard her complain a day in her life. She taught me responsibility towards my brother and sisters and the community.

My sisters like cooking at my place. It has a bit more room and the food tastes a little bit better. A big pot of spaghetti and sauce some warm French bread - works all the time. I think I've been eating pasta for 26 years.

My parents did a great job raising me and my two sisters. We all graduated from high school and we all graduated from college. So to be a good representative of my family is probably my greatest accomplishment thus far.

South Central is just who I am. Even though I have a nice house nice family the rest of my generation is still in South Central L.A. My cousins my brothers my sisters they don't wanna move out.

Even though I have a nice house nice family the rest of my generation is still in South Central L.A. My cousins my brothers my sisters they don't wanna move out. They don't want to and they don't have the means to sustain it. That's where my heart is and that's what I think about all the time.

I was the oldest of the children in my family. I had to do a lot of diaper-changing and lunch-making. I was taking my little sister to ballet picking up my brother sort of being a super-nanny.

I think it's been a little difficult at times for the audience because they've told me they see me as a family member. So to see your little sister sing about sex... I think they are pretty used to it now.

I grew up in a family of strong women and I owe any capacity I have to understand women to my mother and big sister. They taught me to respect women in a way where I've always felt a strong emotional connection to women which has also helped me in the way I approach my work as an actor.

It's not an accident that both my sister and I are writers. Our parents created an accidental Petri dish. My family has great storytellers and I grew up in a very funny conversational house and didn't have television. This small family farm was a bubble world that didn't have much to do with reality.