A biography for Brian Stokes Mitchellhasn’t been written yet.
“My favorite music is jazz, actually. It's what I listen to, it's what I was raised on, and it's what I prefer to sing.”
“One of the interesting things an artist does is they keep rediscovering things, whether it's a jazz piece or a role you've done for 3,000 performances or a song you're singing for the 3,000th time. My job is to find that spark that keeps it fresh and alive.”
“I always like to talk about how important space is. Art is in the spaces. Anybody can sing a note; it takes an artist to sing the spaces. Anybody can paint a brushstroke; it takes an artist to know when not to put the brushstroke.”
“Performing in the theater is a very ethereal profession because you do it once and it goes out into the ether and it goes into people's minds and that's the only place that it ever exists. And it never exists truly; it only exists in the way that people think they remember it. But it's a really powerful way to tell a story and to pass something on.”
“I love rethinking and reimagining songs.”
“The Actors Fund is a human services organization, so our focus has been on caring for the entire human as opposed to dealing with the disease.”
“Oddly enough, I almost never listen to show tunes. But there are some shows I love, like Adam Guettel's 'Floyd Collins.'”
“I studied film scoring and orchestration and conducting and arranging in my twenties, and I scored a lot of television shows and other things.”
“I've been really fortunate that my concert career has taken off hugely. I can make a living. I enjoy performing in front of a live audience, and I can do something different every time. Sometimes I'm with a quartet, sometimes I'm solo, sometimes with a symphony, and I get to go to different cities and meet different people.”
“Something is guiding my career; I don't know what it is. When I look back at my career, I call myself the most lucky actor in the world. It is all I have ever done. I do master classes, and I tell people not to use me as an example. I do not know anyone like me - not to brag - it is just very unusual.”
“Doing eight shows a week is hard.”
“There are some projects where you have to just start doing it, and, after a while, the show starts telling you what it wants to be. You put your spirit in and, after a while, something bigger takes over, and it turns out to be much more fun and creative than what it was at the beginning.”
“I'm the chairman of the board of the Actor's Fund. It's an incredible organization. It helps anybody that has made their living in the performing arts and entertainment: actors, singers, dancers, film producers, agents, managers, ticket takers, writers, anybody in times of need or crisis.”
“Artists make our lives livable and enjoyable.”
“It's nearly impossible to make a living in the arts.”
“I've always felt that my career was in wiser hands than mine. Whatever, in its good time, is supposed to happen will happen.”
“The older I get, I realize, 'Man, I'm a very rare bird,' and that's not because of necessarily my talent or ability; it so much depends on luck and just the grace of the universe.”
“The first time I really had an influence on a show was during 'Ragtime.' It's still the most magical show that I've ever done.”
“When I moved to Los Angeles, I thought, 'Whatever hits, I'll go that direction. If it's music, fine; if it's acting, fine.'”
“I always call myself the luckiest actor in the world because I made a living solely as a performer from the time I left home at 17 years old.”