My allegiance to the GOP was cemented during the 1980s, when I was in high school and college and Ronald Reagan was in the White House. For me, Reagan was what John F. Kennedy had been to an earlier generation: an inspirational figure who shaped my worldview.

Rap music's been around for too long now to be inspirational. The words are, but the music isn't.

I grew up in a very spiritual home in a Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, FL. I was raised in the church, and my mother was a very inspirational person in my life.

I have to deal with people in weird ways. I was walking down the street and this woman walks up to me and she goes, 'You know, I think it's so inspirational that you're out.' I was like, 'I'm on my way to the liquor store. Are you inspired?'

Watching my family work so hard has been so inspirational, and I think I really got their work ethic.

My father, Oliver Hynes, was an educator. He was originally just a teacher, a very good one, but then he was promoted to be in charge of education for the entire area. He was always an inspirational teacher. He was my big personal supporter, always coming here for the Tony Awards. My mother, Carmel, was a homemaker.

I love a lot of the New York bands, but Patti Smith stands out. I just read 'Just Kids' and it's an inspirational, well-written account of an emerging New York artist in the late seventies.

I did an A Level in Theatre Studies and had a really inspirational teacher, and then I just went on to university.

If you look at a building by Mies van der Rohe, it might look very simple, but up close, the sheer quality of construction, materials and thought are inspirational.

I think that's a great opportunity, to pick a script where you can build up a good skill. I think the main thing I look for when I look at scripts is if it's inspirational. If it's something that teenagers can relate to. And is it something that the audience is going to get something out of. If not, then it's really not worth doing.