Priyanka Chopra

“Production is a lot of work. Nobody sent me that memo when they came to me to do television.”

“I believe destiny and hard work go hand in hand. I was studying to be an engineer when my mom and my brother sent my pictures for the Miss India contest. I didn't even know about it. If that isn't destiny, what is?”

“I lost my dad two years ago to cancer, and before he died, I asked him to write 'Daddy's Little Girl' on a piece of paper for me. I told him it was for an album. He practiced and practiced and then sent it to me, and I had it tattooed onto my wrist and surprised him with it. He cried when he saw it, happy tears. This way I always carry him with me.”

“I can't eradicate poverty, but at least for the people around me, I can help make sure no child is denied a dream.”

“After I won Miss India, I realised I do not like failing. I just like being the best. I hate being a loser. So I just have to keep winning.”

“You like someone, you court each other, you get into a relationship. You're answerable to each other. Whereas, the non-answerability of dating, my God, I don't know if I would ever be able to.”

“I sang the 'Sunday Night Football' theme song two years in a row - my first part in American culture, although I still don't know anything about American football.”

“Stardom should be a discovery. You don't hammer it onto people's heads. You don't demand it. You command it.”

“I think great skin is always important. With lots of makeup, by the end of the night, you look like you're melting!”

“I got into the movies by accident. When I got an offer, I thought, 'Let's try this, too.' Everything in my life has happened by trial and error. I didn't even think I would win the Miss India title, so where's the question of thinking I'd come this far.”

“I never thought I am a stylish. For me, style is always a representation of what you want to wear but doing it in a unique way and expressing yourself. Every girl loves to be stylish.”

“Generalizing a type of people is really primitive.”

“I live cinema and passionately love music, and my efforts in both these crafts are unfolding.”

“I had a holding deal with ABC to find me a show, and I was very clear about the kind of show I wanted to do, because Indian people have always been seen as - well, we've been put in a box, about who we should be like.”

“When I was in high school in America, I didn't see anyone who looked like me - hardly ever. I just thought that was normal because you don't know any better. So I used to idolize so many other people, like Sarah Michelle Gellar on 'Buffy.'”

“As a girl, I am this stupid, emotional, very loyal, sort of believe-in-values-and-principals sort of girl.”

“Whenever I pick a script, I make sure I'm choosing something I would want to watch. And 'Quantico' was something I'd definitely want to watch. As soon as I read the pilot - and I read 26 this season - I knew this was it.”

“I'm trying to be global and trying to push us, as a society, to becoming colorblind, and so I'm very grateful to ABC for casting me in 'Quantico.' It was based on my merit, not on my ethnicity.”

“I don't come from a film background. I haven't learned anything about films or film-making. But I have a thirst to know everything about my profession. I want to learn about cinematography, about editing, about music recordings, about post-production. So when people in the know talk, I willingly listen.”

“With feature films, it's a one-time judgment once your film is premiered. Reviews, box office, and then you move on to the next project. With TV, you are being rated and judged weekly for an eight-month stretch.”