"I read 'Backstage' a lot when I first was unleashed into the world from drama school. And what was g..." — Phillipa Soo

In terms of my own experience, my dad is first-generation, so his parents were from China, and my mom was born and raised in southern Illinois, and she was involved in the arts. My dad's a doctor.

I went through a phase when I was watching a lot of foreign films, just itching to get out of the suburbs and explore.

I think as a young person, leaving high school or college, you're like, 'All right, all right, enough already.' But now there's a part of me that would like to go back and relish those moments when you could sit down and just... read a book.

My mom always told me to follow my bliss. And I remember specifically with my father, when I was out of school and not knowing how I'd get a job or make money - should I take some classes? What do I do? He said as long as I was working - to enrich myself in some way - that I was on the right path.