Sydney Tamiia Poitier

(On auditioning for TV series Abby) Sydney: I hadn't even thought of auditioning for a sitcom, because I didn't feel that it was a genre I had any talent for whatsoever, but my agent sent me the script and I thought, Wow, this is well developed and witty and intelligent. It wasn't your typical sitcom--you know, setup--punch line--so I went on the audition. I didn't make it at first, so I kind of forgot about it, and I was actually a little bit relieved. I thought, Okay, I tested the waters of the comedy genre, and now I can retreat to my safe drama haven. But about a week later I got a call saying they wanted me back in, and it moved superfast from there. I got the job on Friday, and by the next Friday we'd taped the pilot. It all happened boom-boom-boom. It was crazy--a total baptism by fire.

(On her father) Sydney: For an actress, it's priceless having somebody to talk to who's a veteran of the business. And people are naturally curious [about me], because I share the same name with him. I mean, you really can't ignore it. It's funny: I use "Tamiia" [professionally], because the Screen Actors Guild said you can't have two actors with the same exact name.

(On her parents) Sydney: They were always supersupportive. But I was encouraged to have some sort of backup plan. They wanted me to be cautious and to know just how difficult it is to have an acting career. So while they were supportive, they were also smart and tried to get me to think things through.