I'm passionate, I'm driven at my job and I also am compassionate with people. We all think we can save somebody that we love.
I am a strong believer in kissing being very intimate, and the minute you kiss, the floodgates open for everything else.
Getting to play the part of Selena was life-changing for me, i got to immerse myself in her life, got to know her family, her home, her culture ... every part of her story. It was a special time in my life both professionally and personally. Playing her not only opened doors for me in the film world, but it inspired me to start my own music career. In a lot of ways, I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't had that experience.
You have to come in and be that character when you walk into the room. That's what one of my first acting teachers taught me. You know, don't go in there being Jennifer and then expect to flip and change, because they're not going to have that imagination.
I really love doing nothing. I really love just being at home and taking a couple of days, you know, doing nothing. You know what I mean? Just getting up, being around the house, going outside the back yard, coming back in; I really like to do nothing because I travel a lot. There's a lot of travelling. There's a lot of on the phone all the time. There's a lot of looking at papers and reading things and so you don't want to read magazines and you don't want to do anything; you don't want to read books, you just want to just kind of shut down a little bit.
I don't get anything for free. I pay for all my beauty treatments.
I always knew I wanted to be a performer, and my mother started taking me to dance classes when I was five. My mother is a teacher, my father works at an insurance company. When I said I wanted to be a performer, people went, "Yeah, right." You don't do that where I come from.
I always love when everybody else is really bringing their game, because it's only going to make the movie better; it just makes you work harder and they work harder and everybody is trying to get their little bit in. It's competitive in a constructive way.
Love scenes are always weird, though. They're always uncomfortable. It's all the people around who make it uncomfortable. It's not usually the actor you're working with, because they usually feel just as weird as you do!
A lucky model who's been given a lot of opportunities I just wish she [Cameron Diaz] would have done more with.
This film [the Cell] certainly is not meant for the girls who sing along with my songs.
So I sat down with him and portrayed more the side of the character he needed to see. Which is what I do when I go in for an interview for a part I like. As much as you think you're dealing with creative people, they see you for what your image is out there.
I grew up in the Bronx where you would stay up late with your girlfriends, just being silly in our bedrooms, whatever. And I was always the clown.
Honestly, I have s much respect for single moms or anybody who finds themselves a single mother, but to even choose to be single mother is just so courageous to me. It is such a hard job to raise a child and be everything to that child without a partner. It's just admirable and courageous and brave and every other valiant word I can think of. I don't know if I could do it on my own.
I'm also influenced by all the places I've traveled since then: I've been to Hollywood and great fashion shows and seen the world. I have a different perspective, and I mix that up.
My own style influences have to do with where I grew up, in the Bronx, and I still like to wear bangles and big hoops!
It's funny when you get married, you do find other couples to hang out with.
I love working with the singers. I love just finding them.
When I found out I was having twins, I was even in denial that I was pregnant. When I found out I was having twins I just laughed. "Of course this would happen!" I started giggling.
What you realize is it's not about financial success as an artist. A lot of actors and actresses, producers, writers, and the creative people in the business realize that. It's not about that. Yeah, we all want to be successful, but we all just want to create and we want to tell the stories. We want to continue creating the opportunities to be able to continue doing what we love. So, at the end of the day, I feel like it's a win-win for everybody to be able to make these independent films.
I had a healthy appetite [being pregnant]. I got more healthy as time goes on, and they grew. I never let myself go.
I remember listening to an interview with Beyonce and she talked about how she and her husband, Jay-Z, have always made it a point to have the conversation about them be about their music, not about their business, not about their personal business.
I think that's very important for romantic comedies, that they do deal with [modern]issues.
Getting back into shape [after bringing twing] was challenging, like it is for anybody who has a baby. The first few pounds drop off really fast. And then you're like stuck with those last 10 to 20 pounds, let's say, and then you've really got to get disciplined.
I think everything needs to be played real, for reality's sake, for truth. And that is the drama and the comedy. When you do that, it's funnier. And when you do that, you really do hit the emotional beats. I do it the same way as I do a drama. I just play it for truth, and then maybe have a little bit of fun with it sometimes.
