Leslie Jordan

“One job I did turn down was 'How I Met Your Mother.' My character was 'creepy gay guy.' That was the character. The script said, 'Creepy gay guy gets in elevator every day with Jason Segel character and he's just being creepy.'”

“The church was everything: our social engagements, Sunday morning, Sunday evening. Wednesday night was the hour of power. We had Bible study on certain days. Saturday afternoon was choir practice. I wanted desperately to be a good Christian.”

“There are many paths to God. What really bothers me - and what I think is the height of arrogance and stupidity - is when one group believes their way is the only way. That really gets my dander up.”

“What's been interesting is that the more famous the person is, the less they seem to care if I talk about them.”

“Big Brother' has put me off people. I thought, 'I'm gonna get a dog.' I really think I'm going to become more reclusive. It was nothing like I expected. I was so naive about it.”

“When I was little, I was like a magpie, which is a bird that's attracted to shiny things. They'll build their nests with Christmas tree tinsel.”

“People are really surprised when they meet me that I'm a recluse. People think I'm very gregarious and outgoing - and I am - I'm thinking about writing a book about it called 'The Gregarious Recluse.' How the more that you put me out there in front of audiences, the more that when I have down time I have to disappear.”

“Nobody really knows if there's a God - not Oprah, not Joel Osteen, not the Pope. Nobody has touched or felt or conversed with God. They say they have, but let's get real. I think that is what keeps me from coming out as an atheist. I think to myself, even the atheists don't know that there isn't a God. Nobody knows anything.”

“Time has taught me that parents do the best they can with the light they are seeing with. That is what we all do.”

“I have not left the house after 6 o'clock without a paycheck for years.”

“I love my family dearly.”

“I had a degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where they said, 'Mr. Jordan, please learn to pronounce your degree.' 'Cause I said I have a degree in 'thee-a-ter.'”

“I'm very proud of my Southern accent, it's part of me.”

“I grew up in the Baptist church and, honey, they baptized me about 14 times. It never did take.”

“In 1993, I premiered my solo piece 'Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life So Far' at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre. It then went to New York and ran for several months Off-Broadway.”

“It's so nice that today, young gay men have a choice about who they want to hang out with.”

“That's the secret to happiness. Find something you can make money at that you really love to do.”

“I will never be a Robert De Niro or Meryl Streep, the kind of actor that disappears into a role.”

“I'm Southern to the bone.”

“I've never been known for being a team player, but I've adjusted to being part of a big cast and it has worked out beautifully.”