Nathan Lane filmography and biography
Date of birth: 3 February 1956, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Nathan Lane trivia
- Played the Cowardly Lion in
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True (1995) (TV).
Co-hosted the 1995 Tony Awards. Hosted the 1996 Tony Awards Telecast.
- Originally named Joseph Lane, he changed his name because he heard of
another actor named Joseph Lane. He chose the name Nathan after the
character of Nathan Detroit from the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls".
Coincidentally, he later played that role in the hugely successful 1992
revival of "Guys and Dolls" on Broadway.
- Starred on Broadway as Max Bialystock in The Producers and Pseudolus in
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Zero Mostel
played both characters in the earlier film versions. Lane won Tony
Awards for both roles. When he accepted his second Tony, he looked up
and thanked Mostel's spirit for inhabiting him somehow.
- May 28, 1991: Starred in the first production of
Terrence McNally's play Lips Together, Teeth Apart with
Swoosie Kurtz, Christine Baranski, and
Anthony Heald.
- Attended St. Peter's Preparatory High School in Jersey City, New Jersey,
class of 1974, where he was voted Best Actor.
- Father was a New Jersey police officer.
- His second Broadway show was Merlin, one of the most notoriously
expensive flops in Broadway history. The show was conceived as a
vehicle for the magic of Doug Henning (I), with Henning in the
title role; other stars of the production included Chita Rivera
and a young Christian Slater.
- Won two Tony Awards as best actor in a musical: in 1996 for playing
Pseudolus in the revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum and in 2001 for playing Max Bialystock in The Producers. He was
also nominated in the same category in 1992 for playing Nathan Detroit
in the revival of Guys and Dolls.
- (January 9, 2006) He and Broadway co-star Matthew Broderick (I)
were each awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a joint
ceremony.
- Frequently works with Matthew Broderick (I). They appeared
together in the films The Lion King,
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) (V),
The Lion King 1½ (2004) (V) and The Producers.
They also appeared together in the original Broadway production of The
Producers, and in a revival of The Odd Couple.
- Was a guest at Sarah Jessica Parker's 40th birthday.
- Was considered to play the role of "George Costanza" in _"Seinfeld
(1990)"_.
- His Tony Award-winning performances in "A Funny Thing Happened on the
Way to the Forum" and "The Producers" were both roles originally
created by Zero Mostel.
- Is now playing Gomez Addams in a musical version of The Addams Family.
- His favorite animated film is Finding Nemo.
Nathan Lane quotes
- "I don't know what goes on in their heads out in Hollywood."
- "I fell in love with the whole ritual. The lights going down, the
curtain going up, telling a story to a large group of people in the
dark. It was one of those moments where you think, 'I can do that.'
You're in control on stage. And I love telling the whole story in one
fell swoop. With movies, you never think, 'I nailed it.' In theater you
get to go back and do it again, which to me is much more satisfying."
- "There's not a day in my life I'm not proud of being gay but I just
wasn't ready for that attention to be placed on it. I remember being on
Oprah. Well, not on Oprah. Near Oprah. She started saying, 'Now,
Nathan, you got all those girlie moves going down in The Birdcage,
where's all that coming from? You're so good at all that girlie
stuff!'"
- [About working in the Broadway flop "Merlin"] "Doug Henning (I)'s
greatest magic trick was making the audience disappear".
- "You have to be loud...it's the theater." - asked by a reporter about
his "loud" persona on stage.
- [On being gay] "From the time I told my mother, I've been living openly.
But really, I was born in 1956. I'm one of those old-fashioned
homosexuals, not one of the newfangled ones who are born joining
parades. My family referred to them as "fags", and that was it."
- [Coming "Out" following the death of Matthew Shepard] "It was like
somebody slapped me awake. At this point it's selfish not to do
whatever you can....If I do this story and say I'm a gay person, it
might make it easier for somebody else."
- "I told my mother I was gay, and she s...and she...and then her face
went white, and then she said, 'I would rather you were dead'. And I
said, 'I knew you'd understand'. And then once I got her head out of
the oven, everything was fine. She came from a generation where, yes,
of course, she would have preferred if I was straight and had gotten
married, but she, uh, you know, she was very accepting. What she
enjoyed most is when I was in a musical. She would always say, um, 'I'm
not saying this because I'm your mother; I'm saying it because it's
true: you were the best one'" [To James Lipton on
Inside the Actors Studio].