Melissa Benoist

“Reading about myself on 'Perez Hilton' was kind of the weirdest thing ever.”

“Jealousy is a human emotion, regardless of whether you're a Branch Davidian or you're whomever, outside in society.”

“TV sort of picked up for me before my theater career did.”

“I just loved the feeling of performing, of using my imagination to take me somewhere else.”

“A part of my job, when I'm playing a character and approaching a role, is to rationalize and to not judge whatsoever.”

“I fell in love with 19th-century Russian plays.”

“I always considered myself really non-confrontational and shy and introverted.”

“I always try to have my mother's voice in my head, because I am very proud of the morals that she tried to instill in us.”

“My life day in and day out is accessing my emotions and bringing them to the forefront.”

“I learned the process of this kind of acting, how things run, how chaotic it can be, and what kind of different muscles you have to flex.”

“I love female singer-songwriters!”

“Living out a story eight times a week is difficult and draining emotionally but very fulfilling.”

“I was initially just fascinated by the Branch Davidians. This doesn't really apply to Rachel Koresh because she was born into the church, and that was all she had ever known, but I was fascinated by the psychology of how people get to that place - a place like Mount Carmel and an FBI stand-off for 51 days.”

“I was such a wallflower in high school. I did a lot of extracurricular theatre shows, but at school, I spent a lot of time by myself. I ate lunch by myself, and I was always okay with it. But I was definitely made fun of, and I always felt like an outsider.”