RORY O'MALLEY

The 'Cheers' family seemed like my family.

You put me in the room with my family and everyone I grew up with, and I'd be the last person that you'd say is the performer.

Pub life was such a huge part of growing up for me, going to pubs and being around them. It made me who I am today.

There are a lot of other work forces that don't do things the way the Broadway community does.

I played Sky Masterson in 'Guys and Dolls' at St. Ignatius. I walked out onstage at one point looking for Nathan Detroit, and I'm supposed to say, 'Has anyone seen Nathan Detroit?' But, instead, I said, 'Has anyone seen Sky Masterson?' I immediately realized what I'd done, so I said, 'Wait a minute. I'm Sky Masterson!'

You need to be happy with or without an acting job.

The theatre community is so powerful.

I think that, as an actor, you fight so hard to get work for years that when it actually comes, you just are so grateful. I am so happy to get to do what I love.

It's about being open to what comes your way. I came to New York and saw 'Spelling Bee.' I said to myself, 'That's the greatest show ever, and I can't believe I'm not a part of it.' I felt the only way I'm going to get to be a part of something that good is to live in New York. So I moved to New York and ended up in 'Spelling Bee.'

'Hamilton' is a game-changer for the musical theater genre. It's moved the art form forward so much and redefined so many things about what we do in theater, so it's pretty hard to oversell it.

I spent a lot of my time, growing up, at the Beck Center. I'd be in plays there, and I'd get there an hour or two early just so I could be there, where I felt safe and where I belonged. And that's such an important feeling to have as a young kid. The theater community, and especially the Beck Center, really embraced me and got me started.

The way to talk about something sad is to sing a funny song about it.

There comes a point when you have to be more than an actor, and doing something else that means a lot to me has actually made me a stronger actor. It's stimulated something else in my brain and heart.

You can't waste time in your life trying to hide the truth.

I watched 'Downton Abbey' twice, and I'm thinking of watching it for a third time. It is so good!

After I graduated college, I moved to L.A. I started working for the Garry Marshall Theatre in Toluca Lake and did theater at the Hudson Theatre in Santa Monica. I paid my dues by working at every single restaurant in the Grove until they fired me. I worked an overnight shift at the Mondrian Hotel.

When I came out, I thought coming out meant giving up a marriage and a family. That was, to me, the most difficult part of the coming-out process.

Growing up in bars might sound like child abuse. And if it does, then you're what my mom would call 'Protestants.'

I can't believe women walk around in stilettos. I would not make it two steps.

I was eight when I played St. Joseph, and I told my mom from that moment on I wanted to be an actor.

Being a kid and growing up in Cleveland, the Tonys were how you saw Broadway shows: you got to hear from each show, and that's what inspired me to live my dream, so the fact that I am getting recognition from them, it's mind-blowing.

Los Angeles is where I became an actor.

I love how passionate Elder McKinley is about his faith, but he's a perfectionist in a bad way... to the point he denies his true feelings. It's a common story, unfortunately.

You can win your Oscar, and you still wake up trying to figure out how to get your next job.

To watch Lin Manuel Miranda... you could not make a better spokesperson for Broadway in a laboratory.