Jonathan Groff

“I did 'How to Succeed in Business... ,' 'Kiss Me Kate,' 'Godspell,' and 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown' in high school, all of which were fun.”

“I remember telling my mom, 'Mom, I'm gay, but I'm not going to march in a parade or anything.' That's what I was telling my parents and all my friends and everything. I'm gay, but I'm not going to be on a float or something. Cut to five years later, and I was the grand marshal of the gay pride parade.”

“Obviously, gay projects play a special role for me because I am gay, so I'm doubly proud of them.”

“I can say that I've become a David Fincher disciple. I have been completely turned.”

“Some people have the gift where they can just sing. I don't have the fail-safe voice, so it has to be something that I need to sing about.”

“For Halloween, I've gone trick-or-treating as Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and Robin Hood.”

“I feel like, with a television show, you're always biting your nails hoping you're going to get that next season.”

“If someone pitches me a really great idea for an album, I would do it.”

“When I was 20 years old, I got cast in 'Spring Awakening' and got swept up in this experience where it was kind of tunnel vision. We were working - it was nonstop.”

“Trying to sound good at 10 A.M. is the worst.”

“The idea of faking empathy to take a step forward to understanding - it's a really powerful idea.”

“There's kind of a gift in being gay because, if you come out, you're forced to express yourself.”

“A 'Looking' musical would completely bring me back to Broadway. I would come back in a second.”

“Even the first suitcase-off-the-train moment, it's easy to be discouraged, frustrated, annoyed, angry. Because you're waiting in freezing weather outside of an open call, and you're like, 'This moment of me right now is not the joy I felt when I was doing J. Pierrepont Finch in 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' in high school.'”

“When I moved to New York, I wanted to be in the ensemble of 'Hairspray.' That was my goal.”

“I moved to New York on October 21, 2004, and it was the day that the Chelsea Grill, a restaurant in Hell's Kitchen on 9th Avenue between 46th and 47th Street, opened. I had never waited a table in my life, but I walked in and lied to the manager in a very J. Pierrepont Finch way.”

“While I was in high school, I saw Sutton Foster in 'Thoroughly Modern Millie,' and she was the one that was most inspiring to me for sure. I saw 'Millie' 6 times in a span of two years or so.”

“People create from different places. Some love to create from a tortured place, some from a joyful place. And when I feel like I'm a 5-year-old kid in my backyard playing pretend, that's when I'm happiest.”

“As an actor, I have these tics that I don't even know exist.”

“I smile a lot in my real life.”