The hardest I've ever laughed was with Lea Michele.
— Jonathan Groff
Some people have the gift where they can just sing. I don't have the fail-safe voice, so it has to be something that I need to sing about.
Once I came out of the closet, it was sort of that thing of 'The truth will set you free.'
I guess I think of myself as an actor before I think of myself as a gay actor.
While I was in high school, I saw Sutton Foster in 'Thoroughly Modern Millie,' and she was the one that was most inspiring to me for sure. I saw 'Millie' 6 times in a span of two years or so.
Dating can be painful, can be great, can be confusing, can be weird, but I don't do it online because I'm not really an online person.
Whenever you get into a new environment, it's scary. You don't know the people; you're not really comfortable with the machine that the show is.
I loved 'Weekend,' and it meant a lot to me when I saw it in the movie theater. I think 'Looking' feels more like that movie than any of those other shows, with a little more comedy thrown in than 'Weekend.' But it's certainly got the vibe and look and feeling of that movie.
I love the you-never-know-what's-going-to-happen aspect of doing concerts.
I've been fortunate that my career has developed through on-the-job training.
When you're always onstage, you really have to focus on listening and reacting.
It's daunting, taking on the task of representing the gay community, because there are so many different facets and different schools of thought and behavior.
I believe in 'Backstage.' It changed my life.
There's not a lot of gay programming on TV.
It's so easy to get the joy sucked out of you.
When I was a senior in high school, I worked at a theater where they hired New York actors. And they told me about 'Backstage,' and so I got my school in Pennsylvania to subscribe. And there was an audition for a tour of 'The Sound of Music,' and I got the job. Deferred my admission to college just to go on tour.
I've never had trouble sleeping in my life.
I bought the VHS of 'Into the Woods' at the Suncoast in the Park City Mall and watched it in the basement when I got home. And when it was over, I rewound it and immediately watched it again.
A 'Looking' musical would completely bring me back to Broadway. I would come back in a second.
I think about 'Will & Grace,' and I think about 'Modern Family,' and the way that being gay has become sort of middle America... in the way that they show gay people in their specific way.
Personally, for me in my life, I think every journey should be an ongoing journey, for anyone.
I think the first Broadway show that I saw was 'Beauty and the Beast,' and that was in 5th or 6th grade. Our school would take bus trips up to see shows, and so it was on one of their bus trips that I got to see 'Beauty and the Beast.'
I don't hate dating people, but I'm not on social media or anything.
'Looking' is more than just a television show. It's contributing to the cultural conversation, and for me, those are the most exciting projects to be a part of.
I'm not on Twitter. I'm not on Facebook. I'm not on Instagram.
I love interacting with an audience. I love just being myself in front of a crowd.
I was definitely planning to go to college, but I deferred my admission to Carnegie Mellon to be in a non-equity tour of 'The Sound of Music.' But I made very little money in the tour, and college is really expensive, and I thought I'd never be able to pay off those loans.
With every character, the first thing I want to feel is empathy.
I'm very selective about television because you sign away so much of your life to it.
For me, there's nothing more valuable as an actor, or better way to learn, than getting to perform in front of a live audience, no matter where you are. Whether it's on Broadway, in Florida, or doing a tour.
In the first year in New York, I went to this amazing teacher named Jen Waldman. She does lots of different classes, but one of her classes was where you went and worked on a song. And suddenly I felt like an artist again, and because I had worked the whole song, when I went into the audition room, I could connect to something in the 16 bars.
I'm a singer who moves well.
Trying to sound good at 10 A.M. is the worst.
It's one thing to experience your Broadway debut alone, but to share it with an entire company was like summer camp or a college experience, where you were really growing up together.
I wish that I could take credit for the success of 'Frozen' and 'Hamilton.' But I just feel lucky to be in 'em.
I can say that I've become a David Fincher disciple. I have been completely turned.
When a piece of art gets really specific is usually when anybody can relate to it.
I can't think of a better bonding experience than to be able to sit on stage and to watch your fellow performers perform on stage every night.
I did 'How to Succeed in Business... ,' 'Kiss Me Kate,' 'Godspell,' and 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown' in high school, all of which were fun.
I was Mary Poppins for Halloween when I was 3, with lipstick and a carpetbag. And I was Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz' in a production in my dad's barn.
Obviously, gay projects play a special role for me because I am gay, so I'm doubly proud of them.
I never look at myself online, and I don't read gossip Web sites.
I just don't know artistically - because I don't write my own music - I don't know artistically what an album would mean for me. I don't know what I would want to say with an album that would be unique to me - something that hasn't been done before. I'm just not sure what that is. But I'm absolutely open to it.
Alfred Molina is one of the nicest people on the planet and a complete master.
I smile a lot in my real life.
People create from different places. Some love to create from a tortured place, some from a joyful place. And when I feel like I'm a 5-year-old kid in my backyard playing pretend, that's when I'm happiest.
I wanted to work with Michael Mayer because I'd seen 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' six times.
Even the first suitcase-off-the-train moment, it's easy to be discouraged, frustrated, annoyed, angry. Because you're waiting in freezing weather outside of an open call, and you're like, 'This moment of me right now is not the joy I felt when I was doing J. Pierrepont Finch in 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' in high school.'
There is really nothing like doing a play in New York.
I love going to the movies.
