Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born June 6, 1954) is an American actor, playwright, and voice actor.He has won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his own play Torch Song Trilogy (about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family) and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. He also wrote the book for the musical La Cage aux Folles, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, and wrote the book for the Tony Award-winning Kinky Boots. Fierstein was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.
I didn't act professionally before going to drama school. I don't know if I had the confidence. I didn't think I'd get in when I first auditioned for drama school, and then I did.
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Today, the Pope is only a religious figure. At the time of 'The Borgias,' he was also a political leader, a financial leader, and the head of an army. I think popes are much less relevant today than they were then.
3
I watched 'E.T.' when I was a kid every day. Well, not all of it every day; I'd pause it and start over again. But I've watched 'E.T.' about 400 times in my life.
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I started studying theater in school, and then I got into drama school at, like, 19, and it was a national drama school in Montreal, and so it was just you and nine other students for three years, and it was really intense.
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I just go wherever work brings me. I share a house with friends in L.A., and I share a house with friends in Montreal when I'm there.
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I think there comes a point in probably most father-son relationships where the son kind of starts becoming the parent.
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As an actor, as much as I'm interested in how you make movies and TV shows, even as a kid, I've always hated making of featurettes and special features on DVDs. I think it breaks the spell.
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The first play that I saw was 'Cyrano,' and I remember going home - I was like nine years old - and trying to learn the monologues.
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I'm not sure I'll find acting satisfying creatively forever. If you get the good roles, it's great - if you have the freedom to choose your projects and not just do anything and everything.
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Fact
1
Real last name is Barbeau, but changed it to Arnaud to avoid confusion with the theatre and costume creator, Francois Barbeau.
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Has an arts degree from Brebeuf College.
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Attended Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, a Boys Choir School, where he learned to sing and play the piano.
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Grew up Outremont, a borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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Has a younger sister.
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His father is a lawyer and real estate developer.
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Speaks English, French and Spanish fluently.
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Was raised in both Canada and France.
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Graduated from Conservatoire d'art dramatique in Montreal, Canada.