Even though I'm from the Midwest, the majority of my life has been spent on the coasts where being gay wasn't really much of a conversation.
I love doing both theater and television.
As an actor, you generally don't get to choose what projects you are part of, so I've been very fortunate that 'The Book of Mormon' was something I got to be part of. I don't want to be lofty, but it was groundbreaking, in many ways, for musical theater, so that was really thrilling to be part of.
My mother was predominately a stay-at-home mom.
Always my fallback is - I'm gonna move to a poor town and open a scone shop.
I am mildly addicted to Mucinex-D. I feel like I should just come clean about that.
I was a little boy who watched 'Solid Gold' every week and wanted to be a 'Solid Gold' dancer. And I would do very in-depth reenactments of 'Grease 2' and 'West Side Story' with my sister Natalie in our garage. I was a very theatrical kid.
It never occurred to me that one could just buy tickets to the Tonys. I figured you had to be invited.
In 2011, I earned a Tony nomination for my role in 'The Book of Mormon.'
Everyone is different, and every relationship is different, and I think the rules can change, and feelings can change. It's not only about who you're with, but also where you are in your own life and your own process.
I arrived at New York, and I went from being Andy Rannells from Nebraska to being Andrew Rannells in New York who was gay. And those were just the facts.
My group of friends, we sort of go at each other pretty hard sometimes. And it's half performance, half truth that you can say cutting things to your friends that might be a little true, but as long as you package it in a joke, it becomes a little more palatable.
I remember seeing 'Falsettos' on the Tonys in '92 and being like, 'What the hell was that show?'
I didn't have an agent until I got 'Hairspray.' I had to get a Broadway show without an agent to get an agent.
It was always my goal to be a working actor.
I'm always thrilled when I get feedback from young people, particularly from 'The New Normal,' young gay people - when they say they want that when they grow up, that means a lot to me.
There was something really special about working with Lena Dunham. I immediately felt very comfortable with her, and we spoke the same language.
I would like to tell stories through the lens of the gay person, but not just for gay people.
I'm not friends with a lot of my exes, and I think there's a reason for that.
My career, definitely, the early years were a little scattershot, in terms of - it was a little regional theater, it was a lot of voiceovers, it was a lot of random day jobs. I mean, it was hard. It was hard to scrap around, and once 'Hairspray' happened, then it all kind of clicked into place.
