Annaleigh Ashford

“Sondheim has been a part of my musical collective since I was eight. I was a dramatic little kid.”

“I started performing non-professionally at birthday parties and family gatherings doing 'Saturday Night Live' impressions at four. Then I started for real at seven.”

“I've been lucky to play strong women who are trying their hardest to do good.”

“I've had such an amazing opportunity to work on so many different types of projects that continued on to Broadway. Unfortunately I didn't always continue on with them. Still, you know, I always had such a great pride in kind of helping the authors and directors create the show.”

“Greg Grunberg is so beautiful and charming and funny and heartbreaking.”

“It takes skill to sing bad and dance bad, because there's a certain amount of unawareness that people have when they can't sing and they can't dance, so I have to say that it is a challenge!”

“I just hope to tell stories that help change people's minds about loving and accepting others. And one of the best ways we can do that is through laughter.”

“It's very unusual to be playing something other than human.”

“I'm really excited to share cabaret, the art form, not just with the generations that are above me, but also my generation and the generation under me. I think it's an art form that's incredibly important, and I think that my generation is a little unfamiliar with it.”

“I am a huge Idina Menzel fan. She's incredible.”

“I did clown training for months.”

“I think every New York actor's dream is to do Shakespeare in the Park. Each show is so special and unique and diverse because of the elements that we're performing in. Every live show is truly a one-of-a-kind.”

“In the comedy world, there's always been one woman to five men. I think that's changing, that we're being respected more as writers and comedians.”

“My mom is a gym teacher, and she's not musically inclined, but she always wanted to help me out with music as best she could.”

“On camera, the audience can see your eyes close up - they can see behind your eyes - and when you're on stage, you need to make sure that the person sitting in the back row can feel what's happening behind your eyes, even if they can't see them. Having a live audience is exhilarating and exciting all on its own, but you know, it is quite different.”

“I always have multiple ladybugs around because they're lucky, and they're good for flowers and the environment.”

“We actually found some home videos, some really funny footage of me when I was around 3 years old. I come up to the camera to do a Nixon impression. I don't know who taught me that, but I come up to the camera and said, 'I am not a crook.' I got a really good laugh. You see me register that bringing joy to people is a positive thing.”

“If you've ever been to a great clown show, there's always a moment where the clown goes into the house and fuses with the audience. There's something fantastic about the improv of it all.”

“We don't often talk about the quarter-life crisis, but it is a real thing.”

“I've chosen a career that's quite tricky. You have such high highs and low lows, and it's outrageously inconsistent. But it is what I love, which is so rare, and I'm so grateful for that every day.”