When I first began modeling, I was very conventional looking. I had hair down to my waist in a side parting - almost church-like. But beneath the sheath of hair lay this Amazonian, strong-looking frame.
I met an agent through my modeling agency who encouraged me to go out and audition for sitcoms, and I was absolutely petrified because I had no desire to do it.
At thirteen I began modeling, doing my first television commercial in ninth grade for Pizza Hut.
I didn't mean to be a TV presenter, I just hated modeling. It feels very odd that it's turned into this 'It-girl' thing. What does that even mean? I wear clothes and I go out. It's so weird.
This role is more visible, and I grew up without a lot of that sort of modeling so I'm relieved and proud to have done this film.
Starting at age four, my mom decided that she was not going to have an idle child in the house. So I started taking dance lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then I was in acting classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and I was also modeling on Saturdays. And that was my childhood.
I started modeling when I was about 2 or 3 years old; I started with Baby Guess, and I did Guess Kids, and that was the extent of my modeling career as a kid. I took all of my elementary, middle and high school years off to focus on school and sports.
I started modeling and after a while the photographer Bruce Weber introduced me to Joel Schumacher, who cast me in my first film, and I just fell in love.
When I started modeling, all I really wanted to get was a Shabby Chic couch.
I'll tell you what I probably would prefer to happen less and less: actors that I know and respect in shampoo ads. Or modeling.
I learned how to get rid of the Southern accent when I was, like, 11 years old and living in New York for the summer doing modeling and commercials and auditioning for Broadway. The mother I lived with for the summer taught me how to drop my Southern accent.
The blessing is that my kids have a lot of strong men and strong marriages around them, so I feel like they are getting what they need as far as role modeling. So I don't feel the pressure for them.
It took me six years to be comfortable modeling a swimsuit.
I express myself a lot on Tumblr, especially through my diary entries, but my Instagram is my modeling portfolio. I have my game face on at all times.
When I started modeling at 15, there were no provisions for on-set tutors, and so I dropped out of school. Although I was one of the lucky ones who went on to a successful career as a model, as a child I should never have been forced to make that choice - between modeling and education.
What I want to do is encourage more of that, more deaf presence in TV, movies, acting, modeling - that's really what I want to work toward.
I have a tough skin and enough confidence not to worry too much about being underestimated because of my last name, my relative youth, or my modeling background. It comes with the territory.
I work hard, but my modeling career gives my views undeserved attention.
I did not particularly enjoy modeling. I felt I was only utilizing 10 or 20 percent of my abilities. In India, it's just another job.
I went to the U.S. to start my modeling career at a very young age. So, venturing into films and handling the pressure isn't a big task.
