I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.

My mom and dad met at UCLA when he as a captain in the Air Force and she was in her junior year.

My dad instilled in me a great sense of humor. I wasn't bullied at school because my outward attitude was confident, and that helps.

When I was born in 1970 with a rare genetic disorder called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita (SED), medical science wasn't what it is today and my mum and dad were treated terribly by the medical profession.

My dad left when I was 3 1/2, and he left my mom and I.