The thing I try to tell people who are just starting in the business is to listen to yourself, trust yourself, and be kind to yourself. And do the work to cultivate who you are and what your point of view is. Don't try to be like anybody else. That's what will make you an interesting artist.

Jessie Mueller

I always thought moving to New York would mean starting over in theater, because I had great work in Chicago and didn't want to become a waitress here.

Jessie Mueller

new thought great work

I grew up watching the films of 'Carousel' and 'Oklahoma' and 'The Music Man' and 'My Fair Lady' - all the classic musicals of that golden era, The sort of more modern musical theater, or what was modern when I was at a ripe teenage age, I wasn't really listening to that stuff. I was really more raised on the classics.

Jessie Mueller

lady man music age

My reason for leaving 'Beautiful', because I had such an amazing time on that show, was by the time I left, I had been doing the show for almost two years. I was a little burnt out.

Jessie Mueller

amazing doing time beautiful

If I've gotten to a point where people want to see something because I'm in it, I'm grateful and humbled. But having an awareness of that doesn't help me do what I need to do, I think.

Jessie Mueller

think me grateful people

Those moments onstage when you realize what you and your compatriots are doing matters - someone in that room needs to hear that story, someone needs to escape or heal or learn or breathe, and remember, we're all in this together.

Jessie Mueller

you moments together remember

I didn't really start performing until high school. My whole family is actually in the business, and started in the business in Chicago, so I was going to shows when I was a teeny-tiny kid, but I didn't really start performing until high school.

Jessie Mueller

high-school family business school

I always loved playing the sidekick, and that's what I expected - I didn't think I was pretty enough or diva enough to play the lead.

Jessie Mueller

loved think enough play

Some of the best actors think they're terrible; that's what keeps you connected to a vulnerability that makes it possible for people to empathize with you.

Jessie Mueller

best think you people

The important thing is the storytelling and having a script that makes you feel you're living and breathing through the characters.

Jessie Mueller

feel you living important

I went to Syracuse University.

Jessie Mueller

syracuse university

My first professional gig was 'Once Upon a Mattress' at the Drury Lane Oakbrook... I was in the ensemble. I was one of the ladies in waiting, and I covered Winnifred.

Jessie Mueller

lane professional first waiting

I'd been acting in Chicago since I came back after University, and I got a call from my agent saying, 'They're doing this revival of 'On a Clear Day,' and I actually auditioned when the team came through Chicago for the 'American Idiot' tour.

Jessie Mueller

saying day idiot team

'White Christmas' is one of my favorite movies, so I've always just had a love for that kind of golden era musical.

Jessie Mueller

movies christmas white love

My dad listened to a lot of James Taylor when I was growing up. We had a couple of his cassettes in the car, and we'd go on a lot of long family car trips. It was either strange musicals or James Taylor - or Whitney Houston. It was quite the combination there.

Jessie Mueller

car dad family long

Directors didn't know what to do with me in college. I didn't really sound like a belter. I didn't look like a soprano. But in New York, I was in the right place at the right time, where my unusualness fit the bill.

Jessie Mueller

place look me time

Growing up, I never felt like the pretty girl.

Jessie Mueller

never pretty-girl growing-up girl

'If I Loved You.' All the way. Totally intimidated by it. From the outside, it has this aura of being one of the greatest musical theater scenes ever written.

Jessie Mueller

loved being you way

As an actor, you always use the tools of who you are and your experience of what you have to offer.

Jessie Mueller

your you always experience

I'm glad to say I'm experiencing more of a conversation in my artistic workforce world than I ever have before. But it's a job, as an artist, to reflect the world we live in; that's our job.

Jessie Mueller

live job conversation world

In school, I really felt like I didn't fit a type. I think everybody had a hard time putting me in a category. They all sort of realized, 'Hmm, you don't really look like a soprano. You're not really a character belter.'

Jessie Mueller

me you time character