Annaleigh Ashford
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.Collection: Birthday
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'll be, like, grocery shopping or doing something totally mundane, and once a day, you'll hear a Cyndi Lauper song on the radio. It is astounding what an icon she is, not just in popular music but in popular culture.
There's no better gift to an actor than when you walk into an audition, and the casting director is your partner.
Performing outside, you have to wear sunscreen.
The older I get and the more iconic the piece, I believe that it's wise to watch a bit and become inspired and take moments that feel so connected to the story and also connected to me that I feel like I can make a part of my own performance.
In 'Kinky Boots,' I looked for moments to be bold, showing Lauren's gutsiness and smarts. She's a little bit kooky now, too, and I love me some kooky.
I love finding ways to make familiar characters into someone unique.
I think there's something beautiful about the art of making art, and it just will live and breathe.
I loved reading 'Anne of Green Gables' and 'Little Women' and Jane Austen. Those were times when people really did have only one true love in their life.
I'm a modern girl with old-fashioned sensibilities.
Animals are completely grounded in their root chakra.
Vocally, it's important to sing every day. It's a muscle, and you have to keep it in shape.
I think no matter what you are going to pursue, if you pursue it like it's the most important thing, then everything else will be lost. And at the end of the day, when it's time to evaluate the path that you chose for your life, there has to be something more.
I think part of becoming a wonderful actor and part of defining your craft is defining yourself and being confident in yourself, so when the hard knocks come, and you don't get a job for five years, and your ego is being kicked around, you can pull yourself out of it.
I, for one, have a great momma.
I love to share in a scene - I'd rather share than be alone.
I've chosen a career that's quite tricky. You have such high highs and low lows, and it's outrageously inconsistent. But it is what I love, which is so rare, and I'm so grateful for that every day.
This is magic - the people of Broadway. There's nothing better!
We don't often talk about the quarter-life crisis, but it is a real 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.
I've had such an amazing opportunity to work on so many different types of projects that continued on to Broadway. Unfortunately I didn't always continue on with them. Still, you know, I always had such a great pride in kind of helping the authors and directors create the show.
I was born and raised in Denver, CO.
My first big show in Denver was 'Ruthless! The Musical.' I played Tina Denmark at the Theatre on Broadway. It was my big break!
Sometimes in a big theatre, you have about, probably, six yards sometimes between you and the first person in the audience. It's almost like you've got to jump across a little pond to get there and then keep moving.
I took obedience, agility, and shepherding with my dog.
Since I was a little girl, I've collected ladybugs. Not real ones - I never had a weird ladybug farm!
I always have multiple ladybugs around because they're lucky, and they're good for flowers and the environment.
It takes skill to sing bad and dance bad, because there's a certain amount of unawareness that people have when they can't sing and they can't dance, so I have to say that it is a challenge!
As an actor, I always think that if someone does pick up a phone during a performance, something dire must be happening in their lives that is more important than theatre - some kind of tragedy they were attending to, or something. It's very uncomfortable if you don't know why they would pick up a phone and talk in the middle of a show.
Sondheim has been a part of my musical collective since I was eight. I was a dramatic little kid.
That's one of the beauties of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim and their work together. They have such a depth to the emotional exploration of the story that they're telling, but there's always a release, and the release is a laugh.
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.
I came out of the womb singing, dancing, and telling awkward jokes.
I did clown training for months.
Love is never not going to be a problem.
We had a cabin in the mountains - and I remember, one year around this time, a moose came down the river, and one night he came to our cabin and hung out on the back porch for hours. They're really, really, really big animals. And dangerous, especially if they're a momma.
My mom is a gym teacher, and she's not musically inclined, but she always wanted to help me out with music as best she could.
I am a huge Idina Menzel fan. She's incredible.
I've been lucky to play strong women who are trying their hardest to do good.
The cast of 'The Big C' is such an amazing group of people. They're so joyful and just open their arms to you as an actor.
A dog's heart chakra is always open; their aim in life is to please.
St. Louis is a very interesting city in terms of accents.
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 think every New York actor's dream is to do Shakespeare in the Park. Each show is so special and unique and diverse because of the elements that we're performing in. Every live show is truly a one-of-a-kind.
If you've ever been to a great clown show, there's always a moment where the clown goes into the house and fuses with the audience. There's something fantastic about the improv of it all.
I have always known mosquitoes love me, but they really love me in Central Park.
I love working in television and film, but it's completely different. The theater will always be my home. So I would love to be a lady who gets to work in all of the mediums and who calls the theater her home.
I'm so not a Bridezilla.
I feel like any actor that has started out in the theater, the theater will always be their home.