I was babysitting the night High School Musical premiered last year. I watched with the kids and we sang along to the lyrics. I was making $12 an hour.

I have a gajillion headbands - yellows, pinks, reds, blues. I'm obsessed.

I'm good in the kitchen. I can cook seafood, collard greens, black-eyed peas.

In case of emergency, do whatever your best friends tell you to do!

I'm an adventurer. I believe in being bold and brave - and taking risks. Even if I'm afraid of something, I'll still have a go at it.

As an African American actress there are people who have been staples in my life that opened a door that I can walk through. I hope that I can have that impact.

If every young person pursued their greatest passion and then said, 'What part of this can be applied to social good?' You don't have to choose between being successful and being a philanthropist.

I really understand the idea of pride and honour. I have that in my family, so I understand it completely.

Do your own thing; always follow your dreams and don't feel limited by what someone prescribes to you as to what you should do. Expand your horizons, try new things, be adventurous.

When I get recognized, every time feels like the first time.

I play so young because of my looks.

A rose would be miserable if it was forced to be a daisy, no matter how much water it was fed.

What drew me to acting in the first place was disguise.

There seems to be a hypnotic quality to ambition and speed, so that you feel that you are standing still just because you want to go so fast. You might actually be getting close to your goal.

Be right, and then be easy to live with, if possible, but in that order.

Onward and sublime Will ever glide The silent stream of Time, That bears us on its tide.

Build your architecture from what is beneath your feet.

A twenty-one-year-old writer is likely to be inhibited by a lack of usable experience. Childhood and adolescence were something I knew.

You will never lose your nerve. Your life, probably, but never your nerve.

Being an extrovert isn't essential to evangelism - obedience and love are.