NATHAN LANE, (nee Joseph Lane) American actor, born; a Tony Award- and Emmy Award-winning actor of the stage and screen. When he was 21 and told his mother he was gay, her reply was: “I’d rather you were dead.” Lane shot back: “I knew you’d understand”. His professional association with his close friend the late playwright Terrence McNally included roles in Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Lisbon Traviata [Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards], Bad Habits, Love! Valor! Compassion! [Obie, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards ], and Dedication.

Lane, who came out publicly after the death of Matthew Shepard, jokingly describes himself as “one of those old-fashioned homosexuals, not one of the newfangled ones who are born joining parades.” When he was asked once by a reporter whether he was Gay, rather than providing a blunt yes-or-no answer, he famously declared, “I’m 40, single and I work a lot in the musical theatre. You do the math.” 

He has been a long-time board member of and fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, and he has been honored by The Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, and The Trevor Project for his work in the gay community. Lane lives in New York, and on November 17, 2015, married his long-time partner, theater producer and writer Devlin Elliott.