Annaleigh Ashford

I kind of had a quarter-life crisis before I did 'Rent.' I had done Glinda in 'Wicked' for a while. I had worked for Cirque Du Soleil, and then I did 'Hair.' Then I had a real quiet time, not having work, and it was a time of not only self-discovery of me as a person, but also what I wanted as an artist and actor.

There are certain performers that the gay community receives and recognizes with love, and my whole life, I've always responded to those same artists.

I've always felt very attuned to, and at home in, the gay community.

I come from a family of educators.

I actually have some family that's from Missouri, and my husband is an outrageous St. Louis Cardinals fan, so we go to St. Louis every once in a while to go see baseball games.

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.

If you can change your mind, you can change the world!

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.

One of the great things that playwright A.R. Gurney does in 'Sylvia' is he gives language to the emotional gestures and energy that our dogs give to us when they're communicating.

I did clown training for months.

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

My go-go dancing was not your typical go-go dancing: I really was doing performance art. I would do dramatic, elaborate lyricals across the bar. I learned a lot, actually, as an artist during that time.