Explain in one sentence what it is you do.

By day, I'm the assistant production manager for the University of Illinois Press; in the evenings I'm often acting or working behind the scenes with the Celebration Company at the Station Theatre.

What time do you typically get up? What do you do the first hour you're awake?

I start waking up to WILL-AM at 6:30 and usually convince myself to get up around 7:15. My first hour is shower/dress/feed cats/brush hair/apply sunscreen/grab coffee and food to-go, then out the door.

What did you have for lunch today? Where? With whom?

Weight Watcher's Chicken Marsala at my desk, with my computer and this questionnaire.

Best high school memory?

It's a tie: physics class with Mr. Thiessen, and being the unseen opener and closer of the "automatic" elevator in our (Wheeling High School) production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

Where did you grow up, and what was your childhood like?

I lived on the south side of Chicago until I was 4, then moved to Prospect Heights (a northwest suburb), where I lived until I went to college. I had the best childhood anyone could ask for, growing up with a loving extended family. My summers were full of swimming, softball and long camping trips. We also made frequent visits to my mother's family farm near the Illinois River.

Where did you go to college, and what was that experience like?

I did undergraduate and graduate work in psychology at Eastern Illinois University, with an unofficial minor in theater. I was lucky to be there with a very talented group of people ... Gary Ambler, Anne Shapland, Joan Allen, John Malkovich and the late, great John Hightower, to name a few.

Tell me about your favorite pair of shoes.

Blue crocs. With bling.

What does a perfect Sunday afternoon for you include?

Reading a good mystery on my front porch and, if it's a pretty day, driving out to the country.

Where on Earth are you dying to go? Why?

Regions of the U.S. that I haven't seen yet: Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico.

Have you discovered as you mature that you are becoming like one of your parents? Which one and how?

I hope like my mother, who was the most patient, loving, considerate person I've ever known. I have a ways to go.

What would you order for your last meal?

Yikes, where am I and who's cooking!? Rib-eye steak on the bone (rare); potatoes (mashed, baked, fried, au gratin, every which way); lots of green salad; lots of dry red wine; profiteroles au chocolat; and an espresso.

What can you NOT live without?

Family, friends, books, music.

Who do you have on your iPod?

I put some stuff on there but never listen to it.

If you could host a dinner party with any living person in the world, what three people would you invite?

It'd be some family and close friends. With famous people I'd be too nervous to speak, much less eat.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Also, that you don't have to know all the answers, just how to find them.

What's your best piece of advice for others?

Ditto.

What was your first job, and how much did you make an hour?

I worked in a small ranch wear and saddlery. The first full Saturday I worked earned me $10 and change.

What was a pivotal decision in your career, and how did you arrive at that decision?

Choosing theater over experimental psychology. People just don't cheer and applaud for you enough in the lab.

Do you have a bad habit? What is it?

I bite my nails when I'm stressed.

How do you handle a stressful situation?

I take deep breaths and swim laps. Sometimes take a little tranquilizer. And bite my nails.

What's the happiest memory of your life?

Giving birth to my son, Sam.