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I was filled with angst all the time, but when it came down to it, I dove into what was in front of me, and I always did my best. I invested 100 percent. And that's what saved me.
I think that network TV is going to either have to reinvent itself or it's going to have to be more competitive - there are just so many options now with streaming and everything.
When you get out of school, you just go where the wind blows: Here's an audition; there's an audition. And before you know it, you're where you're supposed to be. And that was Second City.
I know it sounds new age-y, but what I've truly come up with is that you really need to trust that you're on your own path, as long as you stay true to it and you show up, which is 99% of it.
It's always a good idea to go up for the male roles. You go up against a bunch of beefy guys, and the casting director then feels smart for taking you on, like he's the one who thought outside the box.
'Zoolander.' Yeah, I mean, I love Ben Stiller; he's just a brilliant guy. And I love Will Ferrell in it, too. His character, to me, is just insane, and he made such huge choices, and he's such a weirdo!
I think the only way we can really get you to laugh hard is if we take it to a deep psychological place. It has to resonate with you on a really deep level in order for you to really do that good guffaw.
The place you have to start to be any good at this, at acting, is with yourself. Everything is inside of you, all of it - the murderer, the great mother, the therapist, the husband. Everything is inside of us.
So much of Sue Sylvester, the angry woman, came from that part of my life, wanting to crush other people's dreams and judging others so harshly, which is always just a way of deflecting your own self-judgment.
I've never really had specific goals and stuff like that - I think I sort of learned early on that if you kind of let life roll in at your feet, you will get a lot of great stuff if you are just aware and open to it.
My advice to you: live in the moment. Stay fluid and roll with those changes. Life is just a big extended improvisation. Embrace the ever changing, ever evolving world with the best rule I’ve ever found. Say 'YES AND.”
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a boy. I really had gender issues. I really thought I was supposed to be a boy. I used to sneak into my dad's room and put on a suit, drink a cocktail, and pretend to smoke a cigarette.
I'm not out to conquer anything, which I think is a good thing. That's why I also think crazy, different things come my way. I really don't have an agenda, and I'm really happy not to have one. I'm just keeping it light.
Unfortunately, I don’t actually don’t have any scenes with Michael Bolton. There’s an exposé done on Sue Sylvester, and he pops up on the screen to basically just say he has no idea who I am. That’s the father of my child!
Seeing your work in something animated, you realize how little you have to do with all of it. It's always a surprise, and its always exciting to see. You never know what is going to happen when you're in that room by yourself.
There's nothing better than voicing a character. You don't have to worry about what you're wearing; you've got the script in front of you, and it doesn't involve your body: it's all about your voice, and it's really fast work.
I did voice work for many years before I started having success as an actress. It was mostly radio and television voiceover work, but I know my way around the studio. I know how to use the cappuccino machines and the headphones.
We did an a cappella version, which I have always wanted to do, of the "Coventry Carol." It's beautiful, and we did it in three part harmony with no accompaniment. We have two a cappella songs that, in my opinion, are just gorgeous.
I had friendships with two people in my life who, when I attempted to do my habitual behavior of building a case to break up with them, wouldn't allow me to do it. They both said to me, 'I'm not going anywhere.' And that moved me so deeply.
I love James Taylor and Carole King, Joni Mitchell - this is, like, early '70s stuff. I love the stuff from the '40s. I love that tight harmony that the studio singers in the '50s would sing. I love Patsy Cline. Yeah, I'm all over the place.
I've never been turned down for a role because I'm gay. I'm a character actor, and that's probably why. I don't find Hollywood, in my own experience, to be homophobic. ... But I do think the straight folks will continue to play the straight roles.
I looked at my mom and her life, and I thought, 'I don't want that.' I don't think my mom wanted it, either. I think my mom did want to be out there and have a career. She loved working. As soon as we were old enough to feed ourselves, she was out.
We have some extremely talented people that we've ripped off the Broadway stage. It's awe-inspiring how talented they are, and how can-do they are. They're at that stage of life where it's like, "Yeah, let's put on a show!" That's really fun to watch.
When I was a young person, when I was in high school, we did a very emotional and wonderful - for us, life-changing - production of 'Godspell.' It really, really was the highlight of my high school time, and it was for everybody else in the cast, too.
I can still impress my family, yeah. In fact, I always text my family when I meet someone famous. I ran into Anna Faris and I texted my niece, and I said "Just hugged it out with Anna Faris," and she was like, "Oh my God! OMG! OMG!" She got a big kick out of it.
It's so amazing that you can give somebody like David Fincher 'House of Cards,' and he can do whatever he wants - Netflix doesn't say, 'Oh, you can't do that,' or, 'We need a subplot here about this.' It's pretty neat that it is allowing the creatives to be creative.
I think about Chicago as being a very actor-centered theater town, and people aren't in it to get to the next level, like movies and television. We're there for the love of the theater. So I think it fit right into my particular skill set, which is I love performing live.
You have the script in front of you. It doesn't involve your body. It's all about your voice. And its fast work. Its also very lonely work. You are by yourself. Very rarely are you in a group. You act with yourself, and someone else mumbles the lines back at you. If at all.
There I was as a kid: a closeted homosexual who wants to be an actress. I had no choice! Wanting to act was something I was wired with when I was born. I never thought I would have success or celebrity, although I did want that. But what I wanted more than anything was to work.
When I was a kid, we would get McDonalds on Christmas Eve, and that was a big deal because the closest one to the south side of Chicago was a 35 minute drive away. I remember opening the bag and smelling those fries, and even now when I smell them, it reminds me of Christmas Eve.
I could be pretty volatile, especially when I didn't feel understood, which was 99 percent of the time. I do think that, as a young person, I suffered over that. But as I look back, it doesn't even feel like part of me - except when I act and need those emotions. Then I can dredge it up.
That weird dark energy - when I was a kid, I didn't know what it was. I just had to 'thrash it out,' as my mother called it. I became quite intolerable, creatively and artistically, with other people. I wanted nothing more than to be part of a group, and yet I couldn't help alienating people.
My brother was listening to his transistor radio. He kept switching the earpiece from one ear to the other, which I thought was his idea of a joke. 'You can't do that,' I said. 'You can only hear out of one ear.' 'No, I can hear out of both,' he answered. And that was how I discovered I was deaf in my right ear.
I auditioned for a one-act version of 'The Princess and the Pea' called 'The Ugly Duckling,' and I was cast as the King, starting a pattern of being cast in roles originally intended for men. I went to the first rehearsal, and I didn't get any laughs, and I choked and I quit. I walked away from it and joined the tennis team.
I work with this wonderful five-piece band, The Tony Guerrero Quintet, along with Kate Flannery, who was Meredith the Drunk in The Office, and Tim Davis, who was the vocal arranger on Glee. The three of us sing, and the band is amazing. We've been working together for about two years. So, we decided to do a Christmas album in July.
I became quite a diva, and intolerant, and people knew when I was not pleased. Some people were afraid of me, and other people just kind of blew me off. But I wasn't making any friends. I only had one person who remained my friend, and he was my boyfriend for a while. Even though I told him I was gay, he was like, 'That's alright.'
I've had days here and there where I would get discouraged because I wasn't a big star, but I've made a living ever since I was 27. Not a great living, but enough for me. I think actually being able to pay my rent and eat and perform is enough, and I did that for many years. Then I had some good years in there, too, where I made pretty good money.
There's nothing worse than an anxiety-filled, fearful actor who just needs that next job, because they're not gonna get that next job. Any time I got a job that made me feel good about myself, or made me feel, "Hey, I'm working my way up," then good adds to good. Because it makes you feel better about yourself, and that makes you more attractive, I think.
For many, many years, I was always whipping up things in order to keep myself busy and moving ever forward and saying, 'What's next? What's next? What's next?' I like the equanimity that comes with my age. I don't have big highs, and I don't have big lows. Even if this job goes away tomorrow, the nonstop ambition is a thing of the past for me. I've mellowed