T.R. Knight Talks Fame and PARADE with the Los Angeles Times

They say that for every success story in show business there are a hundred suicides.  T.R. Knight, who came into fame on the television hit Gray's Anatomy and who is now staring in Parade at the Mark Taper Forum is one actor who rode the very fine line between the two.  The Los Angeles Times reports on Knight's rise to the big time, how he almost didn't make it, and how it was his positive attitude that tipped his scale.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Knight met with considerable road blocks after being repeatedly rejected from New York theater schools while a member of the Gutherie Company as a young actor. Says the actor in the paper on the verge of giving up: "One of my mentors said, 'There is more than one way to skin a cat.' It was his benediction. It lifted the heaviness and made me realize there is more than one path. A door is closed. You find another one."

The rest, as they say is history.  Knight went on, the hard way, getting cast in bit roles here and there.  He landed on Broadway in 2001 in the revival of Noises Off, and again in 2003 in Tartuffe. Off-Broadway that same year, he would received a Drama Desk nomination for a 2003 production of Anto Howard's "Scattergood."

After a down period, Knight made his way to L.A. where he was cast in two television pilots, one that never gained traction and the other that became the Emmy-winning Grays in 2005.  Knight was nominated for an Emmy for his role on the show in 2007. 

Fame has certainly not gotten to this actor's head, if his work ethic in Parade is any show.  according to the Los Angeles Times, "Knight has worked extensively with "Parade" musical director Tom Murray and vocal coach Eric Vetro. He is a regular at Vetro's Toluca Lake home studio -- a sunlit space lined with photos of clients such as Hugh Jackman, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Bette Midler and the Goo Goo Dolls."

Finishes Knight in the paper, "I just want to be lucky enough to work, and to work with people I admire. I love acting. I love doing work that is challenging -- and slightly terrifying."

To read the full article in the Los Angeles Times, click here.

Parade, which won the 1999 Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Musical Score, is set "in 1913 Atlanta, (where) Frank, a Jewish man, was convicted of the murder of 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan. As the press frenzy and public hatred surrounding the trial grew, Frank's wife continued to campaign for justice. In a time of religious intolerance, political injustice and racial tension, the musical explores the endurance of love and hope against all the odds," state Donmar notes. Parade also won the Drama Desk and New York Critic's Circle Award for Best Musical.

PARADE opened at the Mark Taper Forum on September 24 and will run through November 15, 2009. For additional information about the Mark Taper Forum production of PARADE, click here.

Recently, it was reported that the "Grey's Anatomy" star was eyeing a return to the Broadway stage, after exiting the hit ABC television show. It is not known if Knight is still looking for a Rialto bow in the near future.

Jason Robert Brown's Tony Award-winning 1998 musical, Parade, made its London premiere in September, 2007 at the Donmar Warehouse. The production began previews September 14th, 2007, opened September 24th and ran through November 24th.

 

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