One of the best decisions I ever made was getting a dog.

My favorite thing is when I work with anybody - crew, hair, makeup - I always love to ask who's the coolest person they've worked with in terms of who's been the kindest and most down to earth. A lot of people have said Meryl Streep.

'Faking It' was hard for me to let go of because I knew how many kids it helped.

Whatever I do, I have to put 100 percent of my focus into it because I don't like to do a bad job.

'American Idol' gives people really wonderful opportunities, and they shouldn't take flak for what people do with that opportunity after they leave the show. A lot of casting rooms I was in, that was the only thing on my resume, and people would just be like, 'Oh, here's Katie Stevens. Another 'American Idol' girl who thinks she could be an actor.'

I didn't necessarily hit rock bottom, but I was working at Sprinkles Cupcakes and trying to make money, not wanting to tell anybody that I was getting a job because other people that I knew from 'Idol' were like, 'Why aren't you singing places and making money off of the Idol name?' And I was like, 'Because I don't only want to be known for that.'

I always say it doesn't matter what age you are: everything is like high school.

I wanted to be good at sports, even though I wasn't.

Like everyone, I had low self-esteem, and I wanted to be like the pretty, popular girls.

In high school, I felt pressure to fit in with groups and with people who didn't actually want to be my friend. That's something I learned moving forward into adulthood: to keep the people around me people who love me for exactly who I am.