Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. Since 1975, he has been seen on stage and screen in both comedic and dramatic roles. Lane has received numerous awards, including three Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards, two Obie Awards, the Olivier Award, three Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Lane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008.[1][2] In 2010, The New York Times hailed Lane as "the greatest stage entertainer of the decade".[3]
For the Wisconsin politician, see Nathan E. Lane.
Nathan Lane
Actor
1975–present
Lane made his professional theatre debut in 1978 in an off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. During this time he also briefly appeared as one half of the comedy team of Stack and Lane, until he was cast in the 1982 Broadway revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter directed by and starring George C. Scott. This led to an extensive career onstage, where he had a long friendship and fruitful collaboration with the playwright Terrence McNally which started in 1989 with the Manhattan Theater Club production of The Lisbon Traviata.
A six-time Tony Award nominee, he has won three times, for Best Actor in a Musical for Pseudolus in Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1996) and Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' The Producers (2001), and Best Featured Actor in a Play for Roy Cohn in Tony Kushner's Angels in America (2018). His other Tony-nominated roles were in Guys and Dolls (1992), The Nance (2013), and The Front Page (2016). Amongst his 25 Broadway credits are The Man Who Came To Dinner (2000), The Odd Couple (2005), Butley (2006), Waiting For Godot (2009), The Addams Family (2010), It's Only a Play (2014), Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (2019), and Pictures from Home (2023).
Lane has appeared in over 35 films, including The Lion King (1994), The Birdcage (1996), Mouse Hunt (1997), The Producers (2005), and Beau is Afraid (2023). He received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for the Hulu mystery comedy series Only Murders in the Building in 2022. His other Emmy-nominated roles were for Frasier, Mad About You, Modern Family, and The Good Wife. He has also appeared in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016), Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020), and The Gilded Age (2022–).
Early life and education[edit]
Lane was born Joseph Lane in Jersey City, New Jersey on February 3, 1956.[4] His father Daniel Joseph Lane was a truck driver and an aspiring tenor who died in 1967 from alcoholism when Lane was eleven.[5] His mother Nora Veronica (Finnerty) was a housewife and secretary who suffered from bipolar disorder and died in 2000.[6][7][8] He has two older brothers Daniel Jr. and Robert.[9] Lane's parents were Catholics and all of his grandparents were Irish immigrants.[5][10] He is named after his uncle, a Jesuit priest.[11] Lane attended Catholic schools in Jersey City, including Jesuit-run St. Peter's Preparatory School, where he was voted Best Actor in 1974, and years later received the 2011 Prep Hall of Fame Professional Achievement Award.[12]
Personal life[edit]
Lane says that when he told his mother at age 21 that he was gay, she said, "I'd rather you were dead," to which he replied, "I knew you'd understand." He then joked that "Once I got her head out of the oven, everything went fine."[6][100]
Lane came out publicly in 1999 after the killing of Matthew Shepard,[6] and has been a long-time board member of and fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.[101] He was honored with the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award,[102] the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Vito Russo Award,[103] The Trevor Project Hero Award,[104] and the Matthew Shepard Foundation Making A Difference Award for his work in the LGBT community in 2015.[105]
Lane has made several critical statements against Republican Party figures. He jokingly compared Paul Ryan to the Wicked Witch of the West, due to Ryan's lack of support for Medicaid.[106] In a 2018 interview about playing Roy Cohn in the Broadway revival of Angels in America, Lane pointed out that Donald Trump is a liar, stating: "Really, what you learn is what [Trump] learned from Roy Cohn: There are certain tactics that are very familiar, that Trump picked up from him. You know, always go on the attack. The counterattack. Hit the accuser ten times harder and deflect. Never admit defeat. And outright lying if all else fails."[107] Lane was an active supporter of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, hosting fundraisers for the Democratic Party.[108][109]
On November 17, 2015, he married his partner of 18 years, theater producer and writer Devlin Elliott.[110][111] They reside in Manhattan and East Hampton, New York.[112]