On the red tiles in my family's den I would dance and sing to the made-for-TV movie "Gypsy,"starring Bette Midler.

(Singing) "I had a dream.

A wonderful dream,papa." I would sing it with the urgency and the burning desire of a nine-year-old who did,in fact,have a dream.

My dream was to be an actress.

And it's true that I never saw anyone who looked like me in television or in films,and sure, my family and friends and teachers all constantly warned me that people like me didn't make it in Hollywood.

But I was an American.

I had been taught to believe that anyone could achieve anything, regardless of the color of their skin,the fact that my parents immigrated from Honduras,the fact that I had no money.

I didn't need my dream to be easy,I just needed it to be possible.

And when I was 15,I got my first professional audition.

It was a commercial for cable subscriptions or bail bonds,I don't really remember.