‘It’s Intoxicating’: 39 Tony-Nominated Performers on Why They Act

What draws an actor to the stage? There’s the desire to be seen, sure, and a passion for storytelling. For some it feels like a calling; for others, a compulsion. A way to connect, or to feel. In preparation for this year’s Tony Awards, which take place on June 11, we asked Tony-nominated performers to reflect on why they do what they do. And, as we have done since 2018 (with a break for the pandemic), we took their pictures.

‘Death of a salesman’

Wendell Pierce

“I had a desire once to be a lawyer. I had a desire once to be an architect. I had a desire to be a painter. But then I realized I could be all those things as an actor. An actor gets to explore all the human desire that is out there.” — Wendell Pierce

‘a doll’s house’

Arian Moayed and Jessica Chastain

“A thousand people, in a room, quiet, sometimes the quietest room I’ve ever been in, and we have a real experience with each other, audience and performers. It’s magic. There’s nothing like it.” — Arian Moayed

“My grandmother took me, when I was 7, to go see a production of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ in Sacramento. I was a little bit of a troubled kid, so she was trying to find an outlet for me. And then the play started, and there was a little girl onstage narrating, and it was just this aha moment of like, ‘Oh, this is what I am.’” — Jessica Chastain

“Everyone always said theater was incomparable, like there was nothing like it, and I never understood what they meant. When you’re in a room of that many people all experiencing something at the same time, the energy is electrifying, and that has been one of the greatest joys about this experience. It’s intoxicating.” — Jodie Comer

‘Topdog/Underdog’

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins

“As an actor, as a performer, when you do the thing that you have been trying to do, you don’t forget it.” — Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

“I always grew up telling stories, in a family where that was an important tradition. Passing that along, for me, is an opportunity to tell the important stories and the stories that mean the most to me, which are stories of the African diaspora.” — Corey Hawkins

‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’

Sean Hayes

“Why do I act? Because I love it. Because I don’t have to be myself.” — Sean Hayes

“I grew up an only child with a single mom. The way I got attention was being loud with my voice.” — Micaela Diamond

“I don’t remember a time before I was doing this. It’s where I found a lot of my identity, from when I was, like, five. It’s the only place I felt entirely comfortable and open to the world and to other people.” — Ben Platt

‘Ohio State Murders’

Audra McDonald

“It’s all I’ve ever done.” — Audra McDonald

‘Some Like It Hot’

Christian Borle, J. Harrison Ghee, NaTasha Yvette Williams and Kevin Del Aguila

“I started acting initially so that my mother would love me.” — Christian Borle

“This is my ministry. This is how I make a difference in the world.” — J. Harrison Ghee

“I feel like I’m called to perform. I could do it — I shouldn’t say this — but I could do it for free. It makes me happy.” — NaTasha Yvette Williams

“In second grade I wrote my own version of ‘Star Wars,’ called ‘Stupid Wars.’ I wrote, directed and acted in it, and I’ve been doing that ever since.” — Kevin Del Aguila

“Who else gets to be so lucky that they get to spend time looking at someone’s actions and deciphering them through emotion? Who gets to be so lucky to explore themselves so deeply?” — Colton Ryan

‘Cost of Living’

Kara Young, David Zayas and Katy Sullivan

“A lot of my characters are survivors of capitalism, and how capitalism oppresses, specifically, women of color and Black women. When we go inside someone’s heart, people can be touched by that.” — Kara Young

“I act because I want to live. I act to live.” — David Zayas

“I’ve wanted to perform from the moment that I saw ‘Annie’ as a child. I was like, ‘How are these children doing this?’ I feel like it’s something that was born with me: a desire to be an artist, to be creative, to express myself.” — Katy Sullivan

‘Shucked’

Kevin Cahoon

“The first people I loved were rodeo clowns because I grew up in the rodeo. I knew I wanted to be a rodeo clown more than anything in the world. And then my mom introduced me to musical theater, and there was no turning back.” — Kevin Cahoon

“It almost feels like jazz when I’m working with these actors, the way we bounce lines off of each other. It’s so fluid.” — Nikki Crawford

‘Sweeney todd’

Annaleigh Ashford, Josh Groban and Ruthie Ann Miles

“Ever since I was a little person I’ve known that my life’s plan is to be a storyteller.” — Annaleigh Ashford

“For so many of us that have the bug, ‘Why do we do this’ starts with ‘How did we feel when someone did it for us?’ Every time I step out there, I want to make people feel the way I’ve been lucky enough to feel when I’ve been sitting in that audience.” — Josh Groban

“I perform because I need to see a version of myself on the stage. When you see a version of yourself onstage, you can’t help but change. You have to change.” — Ruthie Ann Miles

‘LEOPOLDSTADT’

Brandon Uranowitz

“Why do I perform? To change people’s minds and to open up their hearts to new things, because that’s what theater did for me growing up.” — Brandon Uranowitz

“A character is like another person. Once you learn this person, what they’re like, you grow attached to them. There’s something that’s so beautiful about having another person to shepherd through a journey.” — Justin Cooley

“I feel that God blessed me with a gift, and that it’s my responsibility to take care of it and pay it forward and be an agent of healing in the world.” — Victoria Clark

“I grew up in a trailer in the Midwest, and we didn’t have much. So I did a lot of acting in the mirror as a kid. I would go to my room and do scenes with myself. I would imagine I was in movies. I had a very intense fantasy life.” — Bonnie Milligan

‘The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window’

Miriam Silverman

“I was a dancer first. I was also a jock at the same time — I played soccer really seriously. To this day, I think a big part of building character for me is thinking about how they move, how they stand, how their body works in space.” — Miriam Silverman

‘Ain’t No Mo’’

Crystal Lucas-Perry and Jordan E. Cooper

“I believe that stories heal. I believe that stories uncover the truth about what is, and about what could be, and what once was.” — Crystal Lucas-Perry

“When I’m performing, that’s the closest I can get to God and the closest I can get to humanity.” — Jordan E. Cooper

‘Between Riverside and Crazy’

Stephen McKinley Henderson

“I act because I love poetry, and I found out there was a profession where you got to speak poetry, you got to speak beautiful language about what it’s like to be human.” — Stephen McKinley Henderson

‘INTO THE WOODS’

Brian d’Arcy James, Sara Bareilles and Julia Lester

“It started when I was a kid, when I realized acting was something that gave me a purpose. It made me feel confident and allowed me to find my voice in the world.” — Brian d’Arcy James

“I was writing songs at 6, singing in choirs, doing community theater in my formative years. It was a sense of connection. I was a little bit of an outcast at school and so I felt the most like myself onstage.” — Sara Bareilles

“I come from a long line of theater actors and screen actors, and it’s naturally in my blood. Getting to tell stories and transform into other people is the most fun thing in the world.” — Julia Lester

‘& Juliet’

Betsy Wolfe and Lorna Courtney

“I have a little girl who’s 3. She loves coming to the theater, and I’m actually seeing what I do through a completely different lens. Everything is so new for her and so fresh, and she’s in this place of complete curiosity and discovery, and that’s what I remember feeling like when I had just started doing this.” — Betsy Wolfe

“My sister and I would make up plays and invite our parents to watch them in our room that we shared. We made up songs and everything. We were probably 5, 6 years old.” — Lorna Courtney

“I think it’s one of the greatest jokes ever played on humanity that grown adults get to get in touch with their inner child and play pretend for other grown adults. Why would I ever want to work in an office?” — Jordan Donica

‘Summer, 1976’

Jessica Hecht

“I perform to talk to people. At the end of the day, to me, performance is an extension of that. That’s why we keep coming back.” — Jessica Hecht