Mike O'Malley

Mike: (On Kurt coming out in Glee) My first reaction when he came out was, "Awesome!" I didn't think that's where the story was going, and that's why it surprised the audience. You think, here's a guy who played football and he watches Deadliest Catch and he thinks, Look at my gay son who's such a disappointment. But in fact he says, "I've known for a long time and I just wanted you to tell me the truth." I think that's really important for gay teens. You don't want people's parents out there saying, "You're gay!" because then they don't own their own identity. Let somebody tell you who they are whether or not it's obvious. It's a classic scene of a kid thinking he's doing a good job at lying and a parent seeing right through it. I don't know if it's stated explicitly in the script but Chris's character is just 15 years old. You're just beginning to enter into an adolescent life where he's going to have a sexual identity. It's one thing if my kid wants to watch The Sound of Music over and over and over when I want to watch the football game. Now he wants to kiss boys. That's a whole new conversation.

Mike: (On what he would sing on Glee) I keep thinking that Burt would sing "Musta Got Lost" by the J. Geils Band. That would be the song that I would like to sing. It doesn't matter what Bruce Springsteen song. Something that can be played on the radio. "Hungry Heart"? If the show goes long enough, here's hoping.If Artie can have a dream sequence where he's dancing to "Safety Dance", then certainly Burt can have a dream sequence where wouldn't it be great if Burt was singing a song.

Mike: (On his Emmy nomination) I was completely shocked. A lot of people say, awards and stuff like this is something that happens through the advent of publicity, and I hadn't had a publicist angling. Well, I don't know if there's angling. There's a tendency when you've worked for a long time in this business to be jaded and to think that it goes to … that nominations and the like goes to the most popular, the person who hustles the most for that kind of attention. In fact, as evidenced by my nomination, it came from the success of the show, the success of the writing and the work that Ryan Murphy had done to bring this character to life.

Mike: (On his role in Glee) On the show, Chris Colfer plays Kurt, who I play all these scenes with. His authenticity is so present that you just have to be a really bad actor to not take that in. When you're acting opposite someone with such a rich inner life, and he's giving that opposite you, you just have to get out of the way and react. I got to this beautiful moment where there's this guy - who you wouldn't expect to be understanding or accepting of his (gay) son - telling him, 'Look, I've known, this isn't a surprise to me, but I care about you very much, which is the most important thing, and I'm glad you had the courage to tell me,' " he said. "It was touching, and a very tough moment for a son to think that in some way he is going to be a disappointment to his father. It's a vital, vitally important relationship. I was happy to see that the story was not going to go in the direction that I expected.

Mike: (On his recurring roles on Parenthood and Glee) All actors want is to be in a show that's really well-produced with talented people (and) where the writing is strong. And when you get it, you thank your lucky stars and say, 'Can I do more episodes?'

Mike: (On his perfect woman) My wife. She married me. She's an amazing mother to my children. She's amazingly supportive of me – my ups and downs. And she just comes to play every day.

Mike: (On his character in Glee as the father of a gay son) There's a lot at stake in their relationship and [we're] trying to show other people how it can be, in a positive way. I'm not saying hey, let's go to Greenwich Village and be in the parade. This is very very difficult, but he loves his son.

Mike: I'm just trying to age as ungracefully as I can in front of the nation.