“I was very smart in school. I had straight As and was going to graduat...” — Dania Ramirez Quote

I was very smart in school. I had straight As and was going to graduate high school at 16 and start college. My dad wanted me to be a lawyer because I was very opinionated.

I got into the entertainment world and started modelling when I was 15. When I told my parents that was what I was going to do for a living, it was very shocking for them.

I grew up with very little. I remember vividly using buckets of water to shower.

When I was filming 'Premium Rush' in N.Y.C., I flew to L.A. to have a few general meetings. I sat down with Peter Cramer at Universal Studios and spoke about my life and career, and being that I'm such a goof, we spoke about how I really wanted to do a comedy next.

I thought that's what you did, you know? You graduate high school, you went to work.

My parents wanted me to be smart and be a scholar, and the best I could do was graduate high school.

I look back upon graduate school as being a very happy period in my life. The chance to be thoroughly immersed in physics and to be surrounded by friends pursuing similar goals was a marvelous experience.

I went to graduate school at Harvard for one year I worked in the state legislature in Sacramento for one year. I taught school in Compton for two years.

In 2010, I was doing pretty well. I was going to go to graduate school.