"I've been acting since second grade, and I just remember when I first moved to New York and I was living in Washington Heights with three other actors in this tiny apartment and busting my butt to get to the subway, walking to, like, five auditions in a day."

"Well, I'm from the South originally. I grew up in South Carolina definitely learning about manners and being proper and having to go to cotillions."

"I went to School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, and we had a bunch of singing classes. My first job in New York was an Off-Broadway musical."

"Ultimately, I don't think you can teach a tone-deaf person how to sing. Some talents you're just born with, unfortunately."

"I was eleventh-grade class president. That was the first elective office I held until I came into Congress."

"Every noble work is at first impossible."

"I like the cold; I don't have problem with cold, and I don't have problem with rain either, as long as people are smiling. You know, early in my career, I used to wonder about this fan frenzy, but now I realize that there is genuine love, respect and affection, which makes me very proud to be an actor."

"I've never gone to acting school and I never will, so I'm learning about the business from the people who are in the business. It doesn't seem like I work at all. And the unknown is always exciting."