Quotes from Bryan Batt

I think living my happy, open life and showing young gay kids you can be successful, you can have love in your life, you can be a contributing member of society and you can be respected - I think that's it.

I didn't have any role models. I really thought I was doomed to this loveless, lonely life. I didn't know any gay people until I began doing theater.

When I did 'Ugly Betty' it was very similar to working on 'Mad Men' - great group of people in their own little world. But I don't really see a lot of difference. Of course, on the cable shows, you can tackle subjects and be more specific, because networks have to appeal to the masses, but that's constantly changing and evolving.

God love Neil Patrick Harris - how great is that. People grew up with him; they go, 'Oh it's him, it's that little boy and he just happens to be gay. How great for him!' The more of those kind of examples that happen, the better it's going to be.

People are easily intimidated when they decorate their home. They think it has to be one way. But there's no one way. It's your way, your style. At the end of the day, you have to live there. It's your cocoon, your nest. You have to be happy in it.

Gray is great. People think gray is a neutral, but I think it's such a moody, intense, dramatic and sexy color. It's very sleek.

I've lived in N.Y. and L.A. for many years, but I still gravitate to New Orleans - it's so unique and so European. There's nothing else like it in the country. It has its own music, its own food, its own style and its own way of life.

Labels don't really impress, it's the uniqueness and risk in decor that inspire.

I grew up in a very celebratory town. We celebrate everything, from life to death and everything in between. So a lot of dramatics come into my aesthetic. And I'm an actor, so that adds more to the dramatic – I don't mean over-the-top. The main thing is never to be boring.

Gay actors have been playing straight since Euripides.

You don't look at a painting and ask if the artist was gay or straight. I think it's irrelevant in any situation - I don't care if my garbageman is gay or straight as long as he picks up the garbage.

I always wanted to be an actor, but I always loved design, and growing up in New Orleans there was such great style, great architecture. I would decorate my little apartment in New York over and over again, because it only had a couple of rooms. And I did it for friends and family on the side just for fun.

I did grow up in New Orleans. I grew up right on the lake, right across the levee.

In the dining room, next to my collection of colorful papier-mache Mardi Gras float art, hang draperies made of the New Orleans toile fabric that I designed pre-Katrina for Hazelnut.

I think there is this steely strength beneath this beautiful veneer that a lot of women possess. I can't fathom or understand it.

When people ask, 'What role are you dying to play?' I always say, 'The one being written for me right now.'

Any of Bette Midler's concerts should be required viewing for every actor/performer. She has the audience in the palm of her hands at all times and can switch emotions on a dime: Great singer, great actress, great comedian - fearless.

My favorite song as a boy was definitely 'Downtown' recorded by Petula Clark. I still love it! And the original cast recording of 'Gypsy'; I played my mother's cast recordings until there was no vinyl left.

I changed the lyrics of 'All I Need Is the Girl' to 'All I Need Is the Job' for an audition years ago. It's a great ice-breaker - people want to laugh.