“My dad would call me his Cuban princess because I had really dark olive skin because I was always in the sun; but I don’t really go in the sun anymore, so that is why I am so white.”

You always just have to be the best that you can be. And if you know that in your heart, then that’s all that matters.

I tend to have a lot of guy friends.

I’m not a boy band kind of girl. I like hip-hop, I like R&B.

I don’t really hashtag things. Unless I’m talking to somebody and I’m being funny and I say something mean but then I’m like, Hashtag…something that’s funny. I like to only hashtag funny things, not real stuff.

I do have many of the same friends I grew up with. Most I’ve known since we were three or four years old! I have made new friends as well.

I think that since it’s prom, you should definitely wear a long dress. You can wear a short one anytime! This is the moment when you get to be a princess, and for me, that means a sweetheart neckline, long, then pouf – out and big.

Acting isn’t a side thing – you have to live and breathe it.

I want people to look at my films and say ‘Wow, she’s a good actress’, and I know I’ll have to work hard for that.

I think everything about my life is magical. I’ve struggled, and against most odds, I’m truly having the experience of living my dreams.

I think the best advice came from Drew Barrymore, about always finding love in everything you do and keeping a positive attitude and being thankful.

I have suffered from bullying in many ways, from bullying in school due to my disability in reading, to digital abuse that I deal with on a daily basis. I’d like to tell the kids that are being bullied that no one should have to deal with the abuse, ever!

If someone is trying to bring you down, it only means you’re above them.

I was never a dancer before ‘Shake It Up’.

Don’t try to impress people. Always be yourself!

I’d like to help other kids with dyslexia, because I’m dyslexic. It was very hard, and I know that what I went through, other kids are going through.

I don’t have to try to be perfect because I know that my fans like me for who I am. They like me because I am weird and kind of funky, but still really calm.

My humor was kind of from my dad and all the stuff that we went through, which was a lot of death. My humor was an escape.

So I was always around music and my dad was in his own way a progressive jazzer, a big band jazzer guy.

I heard a rumor that your mom and dad ran away from home.

I think when you are the parents of a gifted athlete, the best thing in the world you can do is to encourage them, in my opinion. My dad didn’t push me and I didn’t push my children in athletics.

[I did impressions] of relatives because I heard so many different sounds. My dad was in the music business and of course my uncle was a giant [music producer], but my dad in particular had the house filled with these Dixieland jazz stars.

My engineer dad is where my technical acumen comes from. I remember him taking me to the factories to see how what works.

[Calvin, who has the chicken pox, calls Susie on the telephone.] Susie: Hello? Calvin: Hi, Susie! It’s me, Calvin! I was wondering if you’d like to come over and play. Susie: Why, sure! Boy,

When I was around 7 or 8 my Dad took me to a B.B. King recording session, well, that really did it. Huge and lasting impressions.