“AND THE WINNER IS…”

“…Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom.”

My first thought? “Oh, so that’s what it sounds like when you win.” You hear your name, the hand held cameras swoop in, you turn to your wife, you kiss her, you get up, you point yourself to the stairs, you hope the woman you just kissed was your wife, and while your knees scream at the very idea of having to climb anything after sitting for so long you balance yourself going up – thus, the wings – you watch yourself shake the hand of Dylan McDermot, you watch yourself kiss the cheek of Juliana Margulies, and then you turn to a packed Nokia Center filled with several thousand of your fellow colleagues, as well as seventeen million viewers tuning in, and you say, “Well, crap.”

I think it was the great Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders who said of today’s touchdown dances, “Act like you’ve been there before.” If only I had been, so I could. Still, the speech came from the heart and I am grateful to have been so honored.

As every actor knows, there is a stampede of unprecedented creativity storming the gates of television. Forever the ugly stepsister to movies, today’s television is a godsend for today’s actor. I cannot tell you what it means to be in a place in my career where I am given the opportunity to say the words of Aaron Sorkin. Actors chase good writing and, more and more, those writers are writing for television. Couple that with the creative freedom that comes with working at a place like HBO and suddenly, what used to be a secondary art form or a fall back career move is now where everyone wants to be.

I am deeply honored to have been singled out for my work on NEWSROOM. I am equally proud to be a part of what is fast becoming the creative home for so many of us.

September 27, 2013

Atlanta, GA