Tony Awards Close-Up: THE HUMANS' Jayne Houdyshell & Reed Birney Find the Roles of a Lifetime

Jayne Houdyshell and Reed Birney play husband and wife onstage- Erik and Deirdre Blake in Stephen Karam's The Humans. The play, which originated at the Roundabout Theatre Company last year, earned six Tony nominations, including nods for the duo (Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Featured Role in a Play). Check out why they couldn't be happier below!

Houdyshell is a two time Tony nominee for her performances in the most recent revival of Follies and the Broadway production of Well. She won Obie and Theater World Awards for Well's original Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater. Her other Broadway appearances include Fish In The Dark, Romeo And Juliet, Wicked, Bye Bye Birdie, The Importance Of Being Earnest, and Dead Accounts. Recent Off-Broadway productions include Horton Foote's Harrison Texas, The Language Archive, Coraline, The New Century, The Pain And The Itch, The Receptionist, and Much Ado About Nothing. She received a special Drama Desk award in 2013 for her artistry as an exceptionally versatile and distinctive Broadway and Off-Broadway performer.

Birney appeared last season in New York Halley Feiffer's I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk Award nominations) at The Atlantic Theater and Clare Barron's You Got Older (Drama Desk Award nomination) at Here Arts Center. He won a Drama Desk award and was nominated for a Tony for his performance as Charlotte in Harvey Fierstein's Casa Valentina. He was Hubert Humphrey in the A.R.T. production of All The Way with Bryan Cranston. His Broadway debut was in 1977 in Albert Innaurato's Gemini. In 2012 he returned to Broadway in the Roundabout revival of Picnic. In 2011, he received a Special Drama Desk Award honoring his career as an actor.

Breaking with tradition, Erik Blake has brought his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter's apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside the ramshackle pre-war duplex, and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the Blake clan's deepest fears and greatest follies are laid bare. Our modern age of anxiety is keenly observed, with humor and compassion, in this new American classic.

The American Theatre Wing's 70th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Tony Award winner James Corden, will air on the CBS Television Network on Sunday, June 12, 2016 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) live from the Beacon Theatre in New York City.