All I can do is try to create the best show possible, and I feel we've truly done that.
I am not a sad clown. I am not a sad clown.
I didn't know Charlie before doing the movie, but I was a huge fan of the British Queer as Folk.
I seem to always inspire a strong reaction one way or the other.
I'm also an executive producer and a writer on it, and it's got a really great cast.
I'm one of those old-fashioned homosexuals, not one of the newfangled ones who are born joining parades.
I'm still the fat kid from high school who never had a date.
It's a cliche, but there really is no handbook about the celebrity thing; you have to figure it out as you go along.
Look, I'm 40, I'm single, and I work in musical theater - you do the math!
On a personal level, I don't immediately open up to anybody, even about what colours I like, much less something like this. I am my mother, OK?
People always think I'm Jewish and changed my last name from Rabinowitz.
People have to do things in their own time, and that's what I did.
People think they know who I am, because I've played so many very, very out gay men on stage, and they think that's me.
Sure I think it is healthy to speak the truth, and be who you are, and be proud of that.
There are some people that the press like to pick on and not just the gay press, but the press in general. And some people, the press just doesn't care about at all.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground with me.
I don't know what goes on in their heads out in Hollywood.
I fell in love with the whole ritual. The lights going down, the curtain going up, telling a story to a large group of people in the dark. It was one of those moments where you think, 'I can do that.' You're in control on stage. And I love telling the whole story in one fell swoop. With movies, you never think, 'I nailed it.' In theater you get to go back and do it again, which to me is much more satisfying.
There's not a day in my life I'm not proud of being gay but I just wasn't ready for that attention to be placed on it. I remember being on Oprah. Well, not on Oprah. Near Oprah. She started saying, 'Now, Nathan, you got all those girlie moves going down in The Birdcage, where's all that coming from? You're so good at all that girlie stuff!'
[About working in the Broadway flop "Merlin"] "Doug Henning's greatest magic trick was making the audience disappear".
You have to be loud...it's the theater." - asked by a reporter about his "loud" persona on stage
[On being gay] "From the time I told my mother, I've been living openly. But really, I was born in 1956. I'm one of those old-fashioned homosexuals, not one of the newfangled ones who are born joining parades. My family referred to them as "fags", and that was it."
[Coming "Out" following the death of Matthew Shepard] "It was like somebody slapped me awake. At this point it's selfish not to do whatever you can....If I do this story and say I'm a gay person, it might make it easier for somebody else."
I told my mother I was gay, and she s...and she...and then her face went white, and then she said, 'I would rather you were dead.' And I said, 'I knew you'd understand.' And then once I got her head out of the oven, everything was fine. She came from a generation where, yes, of course, she would have preferred if I was straight and had gotten married, but she, uh, you know, she was very accepting. What she enjoyed most is when I was in a musical. She would always say, um, 'I'm not saying this because I'm your mother; I'm saying it because it's true: you were the best one.'" [to James Lipton on "Inside the Actor's Studio"
Played the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz in Concert" (1996) Co-host of 1995 Tony Awards Telecast Host of 1996 Tony Awards Telecast
Originally named Joseph Lane, he changed his name because he heard of another actor named Joseph Lane. He chose the name Nathan after the character of Nathan Detroit from the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls". Coincidentally, he later played that role in the hugely successful 1992 revival of "Guys and Dolls" on Broadway.
Starred on Broadway as Max Bialystock in "The Producers" and Pseudolus in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Zero Mostel played both characters in the earlier film versions. He won Tony Awards for both roles. When he accepted his second Tony, he looked up and thanked Mostel's "spirit" for inhabiting him somehow.
May 28, 1991: Starred in the first production of Terrence McNally's play "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" with Swoosie Kurtz, Christine Baranski, and Anthony Heald.
Attended St. Peter's Preparatory High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. Class of 1974, where he was voted "Best Actor."
Father was a New Jersey police officer.
His second Broadway show was "Merlin", one of the most notorious, expensive flops in Broadway history. The show was conceived as a vehicle for the magic of Doug Henning, with Henning in the title role; other stars of the production included Chita Rivera and a young Christian Slater.
Won two Tony Awards as Best Actor (Musical): in 1996 for playing Pseudolus in a revival of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum;" and in 2001 for playing Max Bialystock in "The Producers, the new Mel Brooks musical." He was also nominated in the same category in 1992 for playing Nathan Detroit in a revival of "Guys and Dolls."
He and Broadway co-star Matthew Broderick were awarded a joint star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 9th Jan 2006.
Frequently works with Matthew Broderick. They appeared together in the films 'The Lion King (1992)_ , _The Lion King 1 1/2 (1999)_ , and The Producers (2005). They also appeared together in the original Broadway production of "The Producers", and in a revival of "The Odd Couple".
Was a guest at Sarah Jessica Parker's 40th birthday.
Was considered to play the role of George Costanza in _"Seinfeld (1992)"_ .
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