Since 2018 The New York Times has been interviewing and shooting portraits of performers nominated for Tony Awards, those actors whose work on Broadway over the prior season was so impressive that they are celebrated by their peers. This spring, we asked those nominees to tell us about tests and triumphs — how they persevered, persisted or muddled through challenges on the path to becoming a successful actor, and in the roles for which they are nominated.
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’
Sarah Snook
“I was pregnant when I was offered this role. Had I known what it was to do this show, and had I known what it was to have a kid, I probably would have said no! You’re kind of going in with blissful ignorance on both counts, and finding your way through that, and showing up and being conscious about being present in all the places that you’re asked to be, whether it’s family or it’s work.”
‘Sunset Boulevard’
Nicole Scherzinger
“I’ve always struggled with low self-esteem and a lot of insecurities. This role has really helped me to become the woman who I was meant to be. Facing head-on those insecurities, that’s where you build your bravery and you build your armor.”
‘Good Night, and Good Luck’
George Clooney
“My career and my life have always been very lucky. I caught the brass ring. But when you’re 64, dialogue is hard. For the first time, there’s moments when you go, ‘I’m not sure if I’m going to remember all my lines.’”
‘Glengarry Glen Ross’
Bob Odenkirk
“One of the reasons I love sketch comedy so much is you go from idea to idea pretty quickly. But so much of this business, for totally legitimate reasons, takes time to make happen. So that’s always been a challenge for me: impatience. And in the course of this role, I had an impatience with wanting to understand my own approach, which I tried to do in a hurry-up, but there’s just no way to hurry it up. You have to just do it. A lot.”
‘The Roommate’
Mia Farrow
“When negative things happen, my mother had a saying: ‘We push on, Mia. We push on.’ I don’t compare that to the worst that was happening to some people in the world, but in my own life, when things were difficult, I never forgot my mother’s advice.”
‘Oh, Mary!’
Cole Escola
“I didn’t have money for school. And because I couldn’t afford a conservatory or one of the big theater schools, I felt there wasn’t a place for me in theater. I just kept doing my own things on the side: cabaret, sketch, solo shows. I feel like I snuck into theater through a side entrance. And then barricaded myself. I am not leaving.”
‘Yellow Face’
Daniel Dae Kim
“I’m working in an industry where we get employment partially based on how we look. And so that has been an obstacle, and sometimes a benefit, since I started. I just try to control the things I can, which is my ability, my work ethic, how I show up for others. And I hope that those things can make a difference.”
‘just in time’
Jonathan Groff
“I’ve always wanted to dance. It’s been a dream of mine forever. So our choreographer gave me 10 weeks of dance lessons before the first day of rehearsal. It started with her teaching me her warm-up, which I do every day so that I can make it through the show without my body breaking, hopefully, knock on wood.”
‘John Proctor is the Villain’
Sadie Sink
“The last time I was on Broadway I was 13, and before that I was in ‘Annie.’ I was young, and I started getting a lot of panic attacks onstage. So I wasn’t sure how my body would respond to being onstage again. I didn’t tell anyone, either. I was just like, ‘It’s all going to be OK.’ But in my head, I was like, ‘I don’t know if it’s going to bring up anything that I felt when I was younger.’ And it did, a little bit. But then I just pushed through it. That’s been very healing.”
‘Floyd Collins’
Jeremy Jordan
“The hardest thing in the show, apart from learning the music, which is incredibly intricate and difficult, is trying to find his through-line of hope and wonder as he’s simultaneously wasting away. Over time, as he gets more malnourished, secluded and delusional, he still maintains this really beautiful sense of self and optimism until the very end. Trying to stitch all that together has been hard.”
‘gypsy’
Joy Woods, Audra McDonald and Danny Burstein
“I’ve had two very particular challenges with this show. One is, because it’s been played by so many iconic women, and I bow down to all of them, the main challenge was to get them out of my head so that I could find my own. And the other big, big challenge that I’m facing every night, aside from just doing this mammoth role, is being a mother at the same time in real life. And so that’s been weighing on my mind and my heart quite a bit.” — Audra McDonald
“I had the thought for the first time yesterday, during the show, ‘Oh, I know what this is. I know what I’m doing. I don’t have to be afraid.’ For the past six to eight months, it’s been a big thing of proving to myself that I belonged there. That I could do it, amongst giants. I felt so small. I feel like I’m in my body, and I’m my size now.” — Joy Woods
“My whole career has been hard. No matter who you are as an actor, you’re always told you’ll never make it. You’re always told there’s no slot for you, that you don’t fit into any category, that you’re not tall enough, or good-looking enough, or you’re too whatever. But still you persevere because you know that there’s some important story you need to tell.” — Danny Burstein
‘just in time’
Gracie Lawrence
“I get nervous before every performance, and a journey for me has been learning how to manage it, and how to use it to my advantage, which often comes in the form of jumping around onstage, and people being like, ‘Oh my God, she’s such a physical performer!’ and me being like, ‘That is me working out my nerves.’”
‘Sunset Boulevard’
Tom Francis
“The hardest thing is sustaining eight shows a week. Giving 100 percent in this show every week is actually pretty dangerous for your voice, because you have to do some pretty intense screaming at points, which is never good for the voice. And there’s a lot of singing.”
‘A Wonderful World’
James Monroe Iglehart
“Diabetic and overcoming the fight to eat sugar is really hard. I want to slap the people at Oreos because they keep coming out with new flavors. Every time I walk down the aisle I’m like, how dare you come out with a red velvet Oreo? How dare you come out with a salted caramel Oreo. You’re not helping!”
‘Buena Vista Social Club’
The Band
The musicians who make up the “Buena Vista Social Club” band have been granted a special, noncompetitive Tony Award this year in recognition of the excellence of their work.
‘dead outlaw’
Jeb Brown
“In my early years, I snuck around doing small projects and thinking that’s what I deserved. Fifty years into a professional career, finally I’ve let that go.”
‘BOOP!’
Jasmine Amy Rogers
“I struggled with anxiety, crippling anxiety, for a long, long time. It was getting in the way of all of my auditions, and just my daily life as well. That’s definitely something that I’ve worked on and fought with. I forced myself to believe in myself.”
‘Buena Vista Social Club’
Natalie Venetia Belcon
“Spanish is not my native tongue. So I sort of freak out every night. It still makes me panic.”
‘Death Becomes Her’
Megan Hilty
“I’ve chosen a profession filled with obstacles. There’s no sense of security, and always something keeping you from what you want. Nothing’s ever handed to you, and if it is, you’ll pay for it down the road. But I wouldn’t change any of it because I love every second of it.”
‘smash’
Brooks Ashmanskas
“I was never a natural singer. When I first started, I was a tap dancer, which is hilarious. When I started to do musicals, and people are insanely talented and gifted, I was intimidated. I feel like I just learned by watching people who are better than I am at it. I was a very individual singer, and that has come in handy, trusting your own talent.”
‘Oh, Mary!’
Conrad Ricamora
“I feel so lucky to be able to make a living doing what I do. Just focusing on that has been the biggest lesson, and learning how to overcome the general noise in our industry. This is all great, but it is still noise. The work is showing up later to the theater for two shows today, and I love that.”
‘Death Becomes Her’
Jennifer Simard
“I have just gone through a divorce after 20 years of marriage. It was unexpected, and it all happened while this was happening. To know I’m strong enough to stand on my own two feet, and succeed and overcome that pain and rebuild my life is something I’m mostly grateful for, and also proud of.”
‘Operation Mincemeat’
Jak Malone
“I did really well in drama school. I played loads of leads. I thought when it was time to step out into the industry that I was going to explode. We did our showcase for agents, and like 95 percent of the people in my class got an agent, and I didn’t. It was a real humbling moment, and a lesson that I had to learn, which is this isn’t a given.”
‘purpose’
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Glenn Davis, Kara Young, Harry Lennix, Jon Michael Hill
“This world is so meticulous in its design to create self-doubt. Something my mom said is give yourself five minutes, and then move on. So when that thing creeps in, I give myself five and keep going.” — Kara Young
“What I wrestled with was Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s very challenging play! Every day, he brought in pearls. He’d come in with 26 pages some days. Challenging! He didn’t freeze that script until three days before we opened. Every day, I said, ‘Look, young people! You all are very flexible with these new lines. My body is not receiving it so welcomingly. I will get there!’” — LaTanya Richardson Jackson
“I didn’t have a lot of hope that I would be able to get as far as I’ve gotten. I’ve had great mentors and great supporters that have helped me overcome the circumstances of my birth. I’ve come a long way.” — Glenn Davis
“Making peace with rejection in this career is very important, and it’s an ongoing process. So I’ve tried to busy myself with other things. I love to write, I love playing music, I like to travel. You have to fill your life with things that make you happy so that it’s not all dependent on someone giving you a job.” — Jon Michael Hill
“I was born two months premature. I wasn’t supposed to live at all. But the tenacity that that little child had has stayed with me my entire life, sometimes when I’m not even aware of how much I can endure.” — Harry Lennix
‘Yellow Face’
Francis Jue
“My greatest obstacle in life is myself, truly: my own self-doubt, my own insecurity, my own reflexive instinct to apologize for being here, for taking up your time, your attention. I am so grateful to people who have been trying, over decades, to convince me that I belong center stage — and without apology, without having to ask permission.”
‘Dead outlaw’
Julia Knitel
“I spent the run Off Broadway operating from a place of abject terror of not feeling good enough. I spent much of the summer in a deep-dive search for what was broken and why I was feeling so afraid. I had what I’m now lovingly calling my metamorphosis, and came out the other side ready for this opportunity.”
‘Stranger Things’
Louis McCartney
“I used to blush every single time I tried to act. My mum’s a therapist, and I had her on the phone, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do. My eyes water. I’m so hot. I don’t even feel nervous — it just looks bad.’ I’m like, ‘Jesus, I need to fix this.’ And I just did. I just stopped believing that that was something that happened to me. It was just: ‘Louis doesn’t do that! I’m confident! I am fierce! And I am on fire! Hopefully not on my face.’”
‘ENGLISH’
Tala Ashe
“I grew up as an Iranian American in Columbus, Ohio. I always felt like I was othered, and that felt like a deficit that I had to overcome by trying to assimilate. I think what I’ve realized in my career as an actor is it’s actually a superpower. That othering? A: Everybody feels it. B: It’s very effective to see onstage. And there’s a magic that happens, more in theater than in almost any other art form, where you get that feeling that you’re not alone.”
‘Real Women Have Curves’
Justina Machado
“It’s not easy to take your clothes off, especially in your 50s. It’s one of the things the show is trying to say: ‘This is your body. It’s beautiful no matter what.’ The reaction is so incredible, but it’s not something I look forward to. That’s a challenge every night, but I’m proud of myself.”
‘Maybe Happy Ending’
Darren Criss
“My joke is that doing the show is the easiest part of my day, because I have two small children.”
‘English’
Marjan Neshat
“A lot of times people didn’t know what to do with me. They’re like, you’re not white, but you’re not Black. There was no place for the in-between. I’m a huge Chekhov person, and I have done a lot of Chekhov, but somehow I was nontraditional. I was like, ‘Iranians are a lot closer to Russia than the Brits, you know?’ Like, why is that nontraditional?”
‘John Proctor is the Villain’
Gabriel Ebert
“I’m still working on allowing myself to feel joy. I’ve always felt this pressure — that I have some great message to deliver, that I have some destiny. I rarely think anything I’ve done measures up to that.”
‘eureka day’
Jessica Hecht
“I had paralyzing stage fright when I started. My hand would freeze, or my leg. And there was the issue of not breathing. I have many times thought I should take a beta blocker, but I also think I would be the one to die from side effects.”
‘dead outlaw’
Andrew Durand
“Standing in the coffin, it gets hard. The hardest part is the eyes, because I’m trying to not blink. And when I start concentrating on not blinking, the rest of my body gets super tense. There’s a thousand people there looking at me, waiting for me to blink, and it becomes a standoff.”
‘John Proctor is the Villain’
Fina Strazza
“I’ve been acting since I was very young. I started when I was 4, and then professionally when I was 6. I think a huge part of the job is learning how to be rejected, which can be very difficult when you’re already struggling with growing up. Something my mom always taught me was that this job isn’t a competition, even though it can often feel like it is. And so, if someone else gets a role, it’s never meant to be yours.”
‘Floyd Collins’
Taylor Trensch
“Every time you finish a job, you think, ‘Well, that was the end! Sayonara, everybody! Thanks for having me!’ The greatest challenge has been trying to stay present, and enjoy every moment, and trying to trust that something else will come along.”
Cinematography by Emily Rhyne.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
Alexis Soloski has written for The Times since 2006. As a culture reporter, she covers television, theater, movies, podcasts and new media.
Nicole Herrington is the Theater editor.
The post 41 Tony Nominees on the Obstacles That Shaped Them appeared first on New York Times.
