You look up to your parents and you want them to accept you, and you don't want them to look at you in a negative light. So you do things to make them proud and accept you.

That's what you want art to do, to open people up and start conversations.

The reason why I found acting is because my father passed away. He passed away really young. I was going to go to med school. My father's dream was that all of his kids become doctors. I realized in school I didn't like it. When he died, it was like a wake-up call. Life is too short to do something you don't want to do.

I want to tell authentic, real stories with real characters.

I have friends who are black whose families opened their arms to them when they came out; I have friends who were white where they were rejected.

My first audition was an open call and I had no picture and no resume - that's how clueless I was. I just thought I could show up.