“I fell in love with the classical crossover genre when I was on AGT. I found out that I could use the microphone to establish a deeper intimacy with the audience. I did not portray an opera character; I was my true self.”

Never say “NO” to yourself, just try. You will never know what could happen.

But, you will not know until it actually pays off! It is easy to say: “I am not doing this anymore. It’s not working!” But, there is a time that you invested so long and so much, that giving up is not an option! You need to keep on going and believe that persistence definitely pays off.

We all want to inspire! As we go on our life’s journey, some people inspire us and in turn, we would like to do something to inspire other people.

I would sing a four-to-five minute piece for the audience and then I could talk to them and say “Hi” to them! I would not need to act out scenes where my character was dying from tuberculosis or killing somebody else on stage, I could have a nice conversation with them.

When God gives you some opportunities, it is almost like a process that you do not even realize what is recurring at the moment.

When your family is with you, it is not the hardest part. The hardest part is not giving up! Sometimes you stop and see everything and you do not know if everything that you are doing is going to pay off. If you work hard, it is going to pay off.

It’s nice to know when you’re a part of a story, it’s nice to know at least something about the beginning, middle, and end.

Now I’ve even gotten to running out to the fan buses that pass by our house, so I can talk to the people. I think I’m trying to gather fans, frankly. They’re very, very nice people – they really understand. It’s fun talking to them.

I had a nice read on the putt and I said to myself, ‘This is for you, Jesus, ‘ and knocked it in.

It’s really nice when you can sit down with somebody and just talk to them, and talk about your ideas and what you think the character is, and they respond to it. It’s a really nice way to do it, but it doesn’t happen very often.

No one pays me to be nice.

I don’t believe that prayers actually change God’s mind – if there is a God – but I liked praying for people in need. It was like moral weightlifting. I tend to be self-obsessed, and it was nice to get out of my brain once in a while.

I am the good girl and I always play the good girl. It’s nice to do that.

They were actually really nice to me [in Fast 8]. We had BBQs every day on set. We had a lot of laughs and a lot of good times.