Annaleigh Ashford

You have to be so honest in comedy. ”

The people I see be the most successful are the people who have an inner confidence and an inner strength that comes from the character they display away from the stage and from what their parents taught them. ”

I love finding ways to make familiar characters into someone unique. ”

I feel that since I was a little, little person, I knew that one of my life goals was to tell stories and bring joy to people. ”

I always try to have a positive and warm intention that is not about me. It is easy to make everything about yourself. But you take the weight off when we make it about the audience. It's about the joy you can bring to somebody else instead of the joy that you get from doing it. ”

We actually found some home videos, some really funny footage of me when I was around 3 years old. I come up to the camera to do a Nixon impression. I don't know who taught me that, but I come up to the camera and said, 'I am not a crook.' I got a really good laugh. You see me register that bringing joy to people is a positive thing. ”

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. ”