Inside Aisha Tyler's Beautiful Mind

Funny, smart, and gorgeous, Criminal Minds star and host of The Talk Aisha Tyler is the total package.

"We've become a quintet of instruments," The Talk 's Aisha Tyler says of herself and her chat show cohorts Julie Chen Sheryl Underwood , and Sharon Osbourne . "We're playful and spontaneous, and our friendships are at a place where we can be silent in a car and it's not uncomfortable. Perfect!"Tyler has personally reached a plateau of achievement and comfort, too. "My motto is, 'Everything is going to go great,'" she says. Good thing, as our Type A gal also stars as Dr. Tara Lewis on Criminal Minds , hosts Whose Line Is It Anyway? and voice-stars in FX's animated series Archer, and she has directed a feature film, the drama Axis, due later this year.Her secret to multitudinous multitasking? The Dartmouth political science graduate, stand-up comic, and feminist politico says she tries to be "more relaxed and rested and to meditate. Panic serves no one!"[Laughs] Well, I'm an open-hearted person, and I've dated very short men, and I've dated Republicans. I don't know if I could take all of those qualities in the same person, though!So many to choose from! I'm a big fan of the Ryans–Gosling and Reynolds. And Taye Diggs—at 90, he'll still be gorgeous. Oh, and Chris Pine. Remember when they performed Selma's "Glory" at the [2015] Oscars and he cried? I like a sensitive guy.[Laughs] Our goal is to make a piece of gossip into something more substantial and relevant. So one question was, "Should Justin Bieber [having recently rid himself of yet another adopted dog] be banned from having animals?" The larger issue was animal cruelty and that it's important to take responsibility for another living creature.That she's smart, completely work-obsessed, and wildly imperfect. She's got a highly developed obsessive-compulsive disorder, which I do as well.Oh, everything! I'm not pressing door handles 16 times a day, but my closet is arranged, from pants to shirts, along the actual spectrum of the rainbow. I fold my underwear. And I've never left a dish in a sink overnight.They mostly have to do with flight, maybe because I'm always on planes in real life. Sometimes I'm actually physically flying like a superhero, though.Everything is about sex, always! [Laughs] But thank God you're breaking this down for me, because I was curious. I should enjoy my flying dreams more!Noooo. I'm grateful for the genetic material given to me by my parents, but... well, I'll say this: Everybody, typically, prefers themselves at 25, but I like myself better in my 40s.I'd get home from traveling and want a proper drink but didn't have all the stuff. With my line, you can buy three bottles and have a full bar. The "Courage" part is for "liquid courage," so...I donate—last year to the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center, to name two. I volunteer. I work with Planned Parenthood and the Red Cross extensively. And the best part [of being famous] is you can just put your name on something and it helps. So if I can do it, I do it.I'm just trying right now to sit still. If I can just sit still and breathe for a couple of minutes, I'm on my way!By Brantley Bardin | Originally published in Watch! Magazine, June 2017.Photo Credit: Art Streiber/CBS.Watch The Talk weekdays at 2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. PT/CT on CBS and CBS All Access. Stream episodes of Criminal Minds on CBS All Access