I never felt a need to manipulate my career from the outside - try to be someone I wasn't to get ahead.

By the time I came out, that kind of stopped it. The bullying stopped when I claimed myself and proved that I wasn't afraid. A lot of it was when I was hiding when I was younger.

I can't walk down the street with my head up. I'm not a hat wearer, but now I'm a hat wearer.

I've done sexual stuff before - onstage, which is even more emotionally difficult. With a TV crew around, you are stopping and starting; it becomes really technical. It's not erotic at all.

I could definitely empathize with the character, with the feelings of helplessness - if only the desperation and the feeling of isolation.

I think the sense of community that exists with all the characters - that's the answer. The fact that they have found a family in their friends. It does give some depth and meaning to their lives.

I had been doing summer stock every summer while I was in college. We did a showcase, like most good conservatories do - monologues and things that agents and casting directors come to see. From that I got an agent.