I'd rather be onstage with a pig - a duet with Jennifer Lopez and me just ain't going to happen.

In 'The Sound of Music,' I was a von Trapp daughter in a white dress with a blue satin sash, and my line was, 'I'm Brigitta. I'm 12, and all I want is a good time.' I got a laugh. And I was so delighted, I laughed, too. Sadly, that's a problem I still have - onstage, I laugh hysterically at how funny I am.

My strength as an actor is in the theater - I know that about myself. Some actors get onstage and vanish but I'm much better there than I am on screen.

When onstage I always try to take my audience through as many emotions as I possibly can. I want them to go from laughter to tears be shocked and surprised and walk out the door with a renewed sense of themselves - and maybe a smile.

Just me onstage with a mike having an intimate relationship with the audience. I don't get nervous for that. I just get excited.

It's sort of a feeling of power onstage. It's really the ability to make people smile or just to turn them one way or another for that duration of time and for it to have some effect later on. I don't really think it's power... it's the goodness.

My mom was onstage when she was pregnant with me.

I'm now learning how to distinguish when I'm acting and when I'm not acting - offstage as well as onstage.

I'm getting to a point where everything is becoming streamlined in my life. I'm learning how to stand onstage for two hours and play in front of thousands of people as if I am completely in the moment every moment.

I love theatrics and have a huge imagination: Why would I want to sit onstage and sing a bunch of ballads back-to-back?

Lesbian humor isn't trying to sell anything it doesn't have to sell out. Coming out as a lesbian onstage is still a very political act if it weren't more women would do it.

People come up to me as I leave the stage after a performance and tell me tey saw my mother onstage with me every time I sing. I keep a sense of humor about it.

I'm Method trained. How is this character like me? What does she think of her mother? What does her mother think of her? It's like construction and then yes you hope you're talented and that the universe aligns and captures the kind of laborer's work you've done and whatever else sprinkles down on you and it's all caught on film or onstage.

The aesthetic came along the way I think - just through experimenting and going on tour and trying stuff out on stage having fun with it and not taking it too seriously. If I had a ballgown at home I'd wear it onstage. If I found something in a charity shop I'd wear it. That's where it grew from - just wanting to play dress-up.

I'm most at home on the stage. I was carried onstage for the first time when I was six months old.

I can never tell when something is funny. I just have to do it onstage and find out.

People see you onstage and the glamorous side but they don't see you traveling 600 miles a night eating truck stop food and spending by yourself staring at walls.

I remember being onstage once when I didn't have fear: I got so scared I didn't have fear that it brought on an anxiety attack.

We played in Texas about a year ago at Emo's the famous country and western club in Austin. And I figured well if I'm finally gonna die onstage that's where it's going to be!

I'm not in the business of becoming famous. And that's the advice I give to younger aspiring actors. Work onstage and do the little roles. In the end it's not important to be seen. It's important to do. There's a lot of disappointment in this business but my family keeps me grounded.

Touring is tough. You're almost in a haze because you don't really know where you are half the time: You're in a hotel room one moment and the next thing you know you're onstage performing for 60 000 people then you're back on an airplane. It's very hectic and I couldn't do it without my family.

I'm not trying to be romantic. I think you can tell when people are trying to be sexy onstage. When I was doing 'All the Way ' I was really thinking about my wife. People don't know my personal experience but they can tell it's an honest interpretation.

My dad tells me that he took us to a pantomime when I was very very small - panto being a sort of English phenomenon. There's traditionally a part of the show where they'll invite kids up on the stage to interact with the show. I was too young to remember this but my dad says that I was running up onstage before they even asked us.

I've always been into guitars... we want to put keyboards on but keyboard players don't look cool onstage they just keep their heads down. There has never been a cool keyboard player apart from Elton John.