Nathan Lane is a Tony Award and Emmy Award-winning actor of the stage and screen.

Lane was born Joseph Lane in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Irish American Catholic parents.

Because there already was a Joseph Lane registered with Actors Equity, he changed his name to Nathan after the character Nathan Detroit from the musical Guys and Dolls.

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".

Lane, who came out publically after the death of Matthew Shepard, describes himself as an "old-fashioned homosexual, not one of those new fangled gays who are born joining parades." At one point he was asked by a reporter whether he was gay. Rather than providing a prosaic yes-or-no answer, he said, "I'm 40, single and I work a lot in the musical theatre. You do the math."

Though he played a chef in Mousehunt, as mentioned on an episode of Martha in which he appears as a guest, he is not good in the kitchen. He resides in New York, has a long-time partner, and remains very good friends with Matthew Broderick, Mel Brooks and Ernie Sabella.

From Wikipedia

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