Jesse McCartney

“I'd love to direct, I'd love to produce. I'd love to learn all about it, and being around it all the time certainly helps.”

“My biggest hero when I was a kid was Will Smith. I used to watch 'Fresh Prince,' and I was a huge fan of his albums. I bought all of his albums when I was a kid. Now, he is the biggest movie star in the world.”

“All I watch is the Food Network. I took a cheesemaking class a few weeks ago, and I told my family and friends to only get me kitchen stuff on my birthday. I'm into every kind of cookbook and anything by Anthony Bourdain. I'd love to own a restaurant if I could find the right chef.”

“When you're a 'product' for a lot of people, they're only really after one thing, and so it's hard to completely let down your guard.”

“Absolutely, I grew up listening to soul music. People like Stevie, Aretha, Ray Charles, Michael and Prince. My parents' record collection was all I had when I was a little kid. If it wasn't that, it was something else in their collection.”

“I get insecure about a lot of things. In my line of work, unfortunately, your appearance is important, and I'm always like, 'Am I going to the gym enough this month? Have I been taking care of myself?' I get insecure about things from time to time.”

“I love a girl that can make me laugh. I am not really a laugh-at-things type of guy and I don't smile and laugh all the time... But if a girl can make me laugh... I'm in love!!!!”

“My mother was not the cook in the family. My dad was. I'd watch him behind the grill, and I said, 'If I ever make it and have enough money, I'm going to make sure I dine in the best restaurants.'”

“Giants versus Jets Super Bowl. I'm telling you, that's all I want to see.”

“We went to church every Sunday. I do think it's my duty to give back. That's why I'm involved with St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and the Make-a-Wish Foundation.”

“I still bite my nails.”

“Kids are pretty brutal.”

“When I was a kid, I wanted to emulate Mel Blanc, who is arguably one of the most legendary voiceover recording artists of our time. I used to watch all the cartoons where he would voice Daffy, Elmer Fudd and Porky the Pig. I knew one day I wanted to do that.”

“My parents were both very musically inclined, they were both songwriters and musicians, so we grew up in the house singing music together, and R&B had a huge strong arm in the foundation of my career.”

“I grew up as a huge comic fan and a huge Batman & Robin fan. I watched all the TV shows, went to all the movies - I even had the lunch box; man, I was in!”

“I like to smile when its natural. I'm not mad or anything. That's my style.”

“If you really want it, you need to really work for it.”

“I have a hard time waking up. No alarm clock works! It sounds childish, but I seriously have my manager, my mom or a buddy of mine wake me up if I have to be somewhere. It's a serious issue! I've been very late for some serious gigs because of it!”

“I went to school every day, like everyone else, and I played baseball for my high school team. I was a part of a lot of different activities outside of school.”

“The first record I ever listened to was Elvis Presley, and I remember thinking, 'Man this guy is cool!' The swagger he had really helped my confidence, because he really made me think that a white boy could make music like this.”