When I was 16, I definitely burned a couple of bridges by saying, 'I won't do this!' I was not diplomatic about it. I came to a fitting and was like, 'I don't wear fur; cancel this show!'
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Since I was a little kid, I was against fur. I never wore fur in my life.
I originally got into this because of a five-year-old's begrudgery of his teacher. Mrs. Lawlor cast me as a tree, and I was disgusted. I was sure I had more to offer than that. It was like, 'OK, if you want me to be set dressing, fine, I'll take it on the chin but I'll show you - I'm going to be a big actor some day.'
I remember when I was a kid, with the acting thing, I resented it because, you know, you don't want to do what your parents want you to do.
When I was about 17 or 18, I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to change. I didn't know what the consequences would be, but I had the definite feeling that it was going to wreck my Disney career.
I remember when I got to 16, my mum was like, 'No, now you've got to go and get a proper job. We've indulged you long enough.' I don't think they ever thought I was going to be successful in entertainment at all.
I remember having a conversation with my sister, saying, 'What if I don't make it? What if I'm still waiting tables when I'm 35?' I was just at the end of my rope. But I've been at the end of that rope several times.
I never wanted to set the world on fire. So I never had to burn any bridges behind me.
When I got into junior high school, that's when my mom let me dress how I wanted to dress. Up to that point I wore suits to school all the time.
I could have gone the route of a lot of these former child actors, but I didn't want that for myself. Like I said, when I was 14 years old, I decided to quit. I didn't ever want to do it again.
When I was young, a lot of things were closed off to me. I was always told, 'Don't do this, you can't do that' - instead of stopping me, it made me think, 'I can do that, I must do that.'