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My family is Native American, and I was raised with Native American ceremonies.

My family is Abenaki Indian on my mother's side. My father's side of the family is Slovak, and we also have some English ancestry.

My Native American heritage was not embraced by our family, and we grew up African-American, so I didn't have a lot of access or history to that line of my family.

There's nothing universal about Indian families except that the family itself is deeply important across the country. It's sort of the fabric and anchor of our country.

I was raised by the Indian community, and those families are still very close to us. We used to go to each others' houses one Sunday a month, so we got to know everyone well. Also, we love Indian food and can't get enough of it.

I am proud of my heritage and my family.

I don't know much about my family history except that my father had straight black hair and his ancestors probably came from India.

Before doing 'Midnight's Children,' I didn't really have a chance to explore my Indian side. The Indian side of my heritage was always present, but it did not particularly define my identity. Being English was more an identity-defining status. I was born and brought up in London. Yes, my father is Parsi.

I've known where my heritage is from all along.

Ultimately, my connection to my Indian-ness comes back to my mom and dad. They would all tell me and my siblings stories about their life in India, so it was very close to my two brothers and my sister and I.