Top 61 Quotes & Sayings by Andrew Rannells

I think as a young person, you're kind of game for whatever sometimes.

I haven't really made up my mind concretely about having kids.

I was a little boy who watched 'Solid Gold' every week and wanted to be a 'Solid Gold' dancer. And I would do very in-depth reenactments of 'Grease 2' and 'West Side Story' with my sister Natalie in our garage. I was a very theatrical kid.

Always my fallback is - I'm gonna move to a poor town and open a scone shop.

It was always my goal to be a working actor.

I am mildly addicted to Mucinex-D. I feel like I should just come clean about that.

At a very early age I knew I wanted to be an actor and then more specifically that I wanted to be on Broadway and be in musicals.

As an actor, particularly in theatre, you're trying to get jobs on TV; but you're also losing jobs in theatre to people who are on television.

When I came out when I was 18, and I graduated from high school, and I felt like that was the time to officially say it, I surprised zero people in my family.

Luckily for me I have a very supportive family and a loving group of friends.

I arrived at New York, and I went from being Andy Rannells from Nebraska to being Andrew Rannells in New York who was gay. And those were just the facts.

I've been pretty career-focused since moving to New York.

Even though I'm from the Midwest, the majority of my life has been spent on the coasts where being gay wasn't really much of a conversation.

My group of friends, we sort of go at each other pretty hard sometimes. And it's half performance, half truth that you can say cutting things to your friends that might be a little true, but as long as you package it in a joke, it becomes a little more palatable.

I would always pick pop songs and would sing them even if they were not correct for the audition - which didn't always get me a lot of jobs, but sometimes they did.

I love doing both theater and television.

I'm 6'2 and not a small person.

When I was a kid, there were hardly any gay story lines or characters on television that I recall. Then when I was in college, 'Will & Grace' started up.

I can't wake up at all without caffeine.

I would like to tell stories through the lens of the gay person, but not just for gay people.

In L.A., people will recognize me for doing 'Girls,' but have no idea that I have ever done anything on Broadway or can sing or dance or any of that stuff.

Surround yourself with people who are going to support you regardless of what your sexual orientation is, and you can have a beautiful life filled with love.

I had to be clean-shaven all the time to play a Mormon missionary, so after I was done, I grew a mustache out of rebellion. It was actually very polarizing. I became attractive to a completely new group of people and also repulsive to a new group of people. The lesson: mustaches are divisive.

I remember seeing 'Falsettos' on the Tonys in '92 and being like, 'What the hell was that show?'

I've certainly played those leading man or male juvenile roles, where you're not supposed to make people laugh.

I used to do community theater with Conor Oberst.

Everyone is different, and every relationship is different, and I think the rules can change, and feelings can change. It's not only about who you're with, but also where you are in your own life and your own process.

It never occurred to me that one could just buy tickets to the Tonys. I figured you had to be invited.

I'm always thrilled when I get feedback from young people, particularly from 'The New Normal,' young gay people - when they say they want that when they grow up, that means a lot to me.

Coming from the theater, you know what your given circumstances are every night and who your character is. You're reenacting this one moment of their lives over and over, so you get really good at figuring out how to navigate it. TV was a huge adjustment for me because the script changes every episode, and you have a different set of circumstances.

I feel very fortunate that while I had a little bit of personal panic or maybe a little internal struggle as a teenager, really coming to terms with the fact that I was gay, and also knowing I was going to have to tell my family. And, how was that going to affect things? And would it affect things? And ultimately, it did not.

I still can't shake the Nebraska off of me.

I live in the East Village, and occasionally people will recognize me there. When I'm in Williamsburg, I always get recognized. Midtown, not so much.

My career, definitely, the early years were a little scattershot, in terms of - it was a little regional theater, it was a lot of voiceovers, it was a lot of random day jobs. I mean, it was hard. It was hard to scrap around, and once 'Hairspray' happened, then it all kind of clicked into place.

There was something really special about working with Lena Dunham. I immediately felt very comfortable with her, and we spoke the same language.

My mother was predominately a stay-at-home mom.

I've always been a huge fan of Tina Fey's. She's a very unique storyteller and has such a great voice and sense of character and comedy, and manages to do things that are oftentimes very broad but still have a lot of heart to them.

I'm not friends with a lot of my exes, and I think there's a reason for that.

As an actor, you generally don't get to choose what projects you are part of, so I've been very fortunate that 'The Book of Mormon' was something I got to be part of. I don't want to be lofty, but it was groundbreaking, in many ways, for musical theater, so that was really thrilling to be part of.

One of the great things about 'Girls' is that each of these characters really does represent a human being. There are definitely relatable aspects to all of these folks, and certainly within my close friend group, those personalities very much exist.

In 2011, I earned a Tony nomination for my role in 'The Book of Mormon.'

Coming to New York to go to school and being very far away from my own family, I definitely found myself piecing together my sort of chosen family here, and I have friends that I'm still very close with, that we all met at the same time and have become a huge part of each other's lives.

There are certainly actors who I felt rivalries with, but then, as time goes on, you realize that you have to keep your eyes on your own paper because everybody's doing their own work.

If you get into multicultural sort of casting for no other reason than to diversify, then it seems false.

I didn't have an agent until I got 'Hairspray.' I had to get a Broadway show without an agent to get an agent.

As a kid, I was fortunate that we grew up near a children's theater, with all different classes and things; so as a kid I took classes there and as I got into high school I did all the community theater stuff. Then I came to college here in New York, going to Marymount Manhattan, and studied acting there. But most of the training I got was from working. Working with really great people.

When I talk to Ryan Murphy or Ali Adler about my past or things in my personal life, occasionally pieces of that will end up in the script, and I think that's true of everybody. It's true of that entire writer's room, certainly of Ryan and Ali. I think that he writes really well for actors, for his actors, and he writes to their strengths. I always feel very well taken care of with him.

The majority of celebrities that come to the show actually don't come backstage. Because they don't know that they can.

So much of being an actor is trying to force yourself into these roles and sometimes it's a good fit, and sometimes it's not a good fit... you have to get clear about what it is that you do and not try to be a bunch of other people. Not try to be that guy or try to play that part; find the roles that you do well.

I think Girls is so great, because versions of it are close to my own experience of moving to New York. It's a fun. You know - get to be messy and silly and irresponsible, but also wrap that up at the end of the day and be an adult. It's a fun time, but not necessarily one you want to stay in for too long.

I love doing both theater and television. I definitely foresee more Broadway, but I think I would like to keep the singing and the TV separate.

I don't want to be lofty, but it was groundbreaking, in many ways, for musical theater, so that was really thrilling to be part of The Book of Mormon . And Girls felt very much the same way - there was an excitement about it as we were doing it; I knew it was something special.

Always my fallback is - I'm gonna move to a poor town and open a scone shop... Sometimes after some bad auditions I think, you know what - time to open that scone shop! Let's start baking.

This is a musical, ma'am. If there's no gay, there's a problem.

My only goal is to make the crew laugh, basically. It's the only litmus I have to know, is this good or not?

I figure, oftentimes the best way in is through humor, and you can deal with serious situations a lot easier, or at least bring up the conversation.

Luckily Ryan Murphy has a great track record of really having his finger on the pulse of pop culture in a way that very few people do. And he is able to work things into stories in a ridiculously timely way - sometimes, before anybody else thinks it's going to be a thing, he is able to create these moments on television. I was thrilled to get to work with him, and I knew he would be able to tell that story with that same energy.

I'm happy to say I haven't received that much negative feedback. I'm always thrilled when I get feedback from young people, particularly from The New Normal, young gay people - when they say they want that when they grow up, that means a lot to me. As a kid growing up, I didn't really have a lot of gay role models on television, so it's nice to be part of a movement that gives some more of those.

Girls was the first television show I got to be a part of, and that was here in New York. Getting to work with Lena Dunham, and to work with HBO and Judd Apatow, and then being a big fan of Ryan Murphy, I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity than this.

I was interested in being part of interesting stories. As an actor, you generally don't get to choose what projects you are part of, so I've been very fortunate that The Book of Mormon was something I got to be part of.