I remember a great America where we made everything. There was a time when the only thing you got from Japan was a really bad cheap transistor radio that some aunt gave you for Christmas.
My aunt in Texas, when she did the hazing things, they had girls swallow oysters. They’d wrap an oyster in dental floss, swallow them, and then pull them back up.
My dad was a Marine, my aunt is still in the Navy, and my grandfathers both served. So, it’s a huge honor for me to represent my country in any way I can.
Beyonce has set the tone as an aunt. I’ve set the tone as a mom.
My aunt put my cousins into a children’s modelling agency, then my mum did it with us. Me and my sister got a few TV adverts, which was good pocket money. A director saw photos of me and asked me to do a short film.
My dad was a keen actor when he was young; my auntie is heavily involved in amateur dramatics back in Northern Ireland, and my great aunt was a woman called Greer Garson.
It’s funny, you know, growing up, you are always introduced to people as your uncle this or your aunt that or your cousin this. By the time I was in my 20s, I had no idea who I actually was or wasn’t related to. It’s kind of a running joke in the family.
If you are playing in ‘Charley’s Aunt,’ and your favourite aunt died that lunchtime, you’ll still have to go on the stage and play ‘Charley’s Aunt.’
My mom was always pretty supportive. She saw me do plays and she’d always act out the parts I did. My aunt, who played a big part in my life, was a little bit more reserved, because if they don’t see you on TV every week they think you must be starving.
All my forebears worked for a living. My grandfather painted portraits. My mother too. My aunt painted seascapes.
My aunt was a chef and she inspired me deeply so she was a huge motivator but more than anything it was a quest for independence and freedom that lead me to an L.A. Culinary School.
When I was 15 I went to live with my aunt and uncle instead of my mum, for money reasons. It was a huge shock to my system, suddenly living with six people rather than one. Hopefully it changed me for the better.
Classical music has become rarefied, like a maiden aunt that nobody wants to talk to.
My aunt Julie was a production manager, and she heard of an opening. Some show was looking for children to run around the house or whatever. I auditioned and got the part, and I showed up in all of my monstrous energy, bouncing everywhere like an electron.
The thing that makes us root for Spider-Man as he swings across the city is that he’s either having the time of his life or worrying about whether he’ll be able to get a good grade on that English paper or whether or not he’s going to make it home in time for Aunt May to make his dinner.
People used to grow up in small communities where folk wisdom was passed down. But we don’t live there anymore. We can’t go next door to your aunt and ask her for the answers.
My mother was from West Bromwich; my grandfather was Pakistani. I had an aunt who started trying to trace the family tree and stopped when she saw what turned up.
My own journey in becoming a poet began with memory – with the need to record and hold on to what was being lost. One of my earliest poems, ‘Give and Take,’ was about my Aunt Sugar, how I was losing her to her memory loss.
