LINDSAY MENDEZ

Gay men are still men.

I've always had a big voice, but I'm very aware of when you need to belt or go all out like that - when it's necessary and plot driven - as opposed to just screaming to scream, which I hate.

I learned by watching Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.

I think, going into a room for an audition, the best thing you can do is represent who you are specifically as an individual and what you can bring to a creative process in a room - as opposed to being worried about 'where you fit' - because that's really their job to decide where you fit. Your job is to just present the best 'you' you can.

When I was 12, I played Dorothy in my community theatre production of 'The Wizard of Oz,' and it was very critically hailed by my school paper!

I did 'The Sound of Music.' That was my first musical.

I am not a beauty queen, and I was not the popular girl in high school.

It's been a huge honor to collaborate and create new theatre with new writers and to create theatre that will last after my lifetime. It's been in the most truthful way possible. It's my favorite thing to do.

Even though acting is my job, I do this because I love it, and when the love is gone, I'm not going to do it anymore.

I feel like I do my best work under fear of being fired.

I was born in Southern California in a city called Norwalk. I grew up there until I moved up to New York when I was 18.

When you hear you're going to audition for 'Dogfight,' the show about bringing ugly women to parties, you're like, 'Oh, great, thank you.' Then you read lines where people call you fat, and you call yourself fat or ugly, and it can wear on you. But that's also our dream as actors, to play someone else and give someone else a voice.

I want to scare myself when I choose what I want to work on.

At 'Wicked,' they are really great about letting you make your own choices with the roles.

'Dogfight' is my favorite thing I've ever worked on. It's such a special piece, and I'm so close to the character of Rose. I loved doing it every night.

I have a major love for musical theatre, including a lot of stuff I don't get to do very often.

Being called ugly every day is not easy on the psyche.

I've always been afraid to do a solo show. When I go to see the great solo shows of Liz Callaway or Christine Ebersole, they have so many incredible stories to talk about, and their material and lives are so rich. I've always worried that my life was not rich enough.

My parents were big movie-musical fans. And I thought 'Grease' was different from the usual MGM musical. I was intrigued and fell in love with it.

I'm a big Broadway fan and a big MGM fan.

When you are preparing for a role, you have a script to comb through and the writer's help in telling you about the character, and then you can fill in the gaps. When you are doing a cabaret show, it's very personal. You have the opportunity to share parts of yourself with an audience and figure out how you want to connect.

I think it's important to play real people.

I do think television has really fantasized it to the point where now everyone wants a gay best friend.

I'm good friends with Matt Morrison.

The first time I didn't get called back at an audition, I cried. My mom told me, 'We're doing this for fun, and if it's not fun anymore, we're not going to do it. So if you ever cry again, we're going to stop.' I never cried from then on, and I kept that lesson for the rest of my life.