21 questions

‘Pygmalion’ Star Jefferson Mays Saws the Air With His Hands

Jefferson Mays

Photo: WireImage

Who: Jefferson Mays

Job: Playing the role of Henry Higgins, opposite Claire Danes’s Eliza, in the Roundabout Theatre’s current hit production of Pygmalion.

Age: 42

Neighborhood: East Village

Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
E.B. White

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
My wedding dinner at Eight Mile Creek.

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
I saw the air with my hands, tear passion to tatters, and do a fair amount of strutting and fretting.

Where do you get your coffee?
Starbucks.

What’s the last thing you saw on Broadway?
The Farnsworth Invention. Excellent.

Do you give money to panhandlers?
I’m more of a checkbook humanitarian, but I will give if sufficiently intimidated or browbeaten.

What’s your drink?
Johnny Walker Black with a splash of soda, please.

How often do you prepare your own meals?
50 percent of the time.

What’s your favorite medication?
Johnny Walker Black with a splash of soda, please.

What’s hanging above your sofa?
We have no sofa.

How much is too much to spend on a haircut?
In my case, anything above $10 is like paying to redecorate an apartment you don’t own.

When’s bedtime?
Between midnight and 2 a.m.

Brunch: pro or con?
I am decidedly in favor of breakfast at any time of day.

What’s your thread count?
Counting has never been my forte.

What do you hate most about living in New York?
Demon cyclists.

What’s your brand of jeans?
I don’t have any.

When’s the last time you drove a car?
A year ago in Albury-Wodonga, in Australia, just down the road from Burrumbuttock.

Who should be the next president?
Whoever can get us out of this mess.

Times, Post, or Daily News?
Times.

Yankees or Mets?
I’m nonpartisan.

What makes someone a New Yorker?
New Yorkers make themselves.

Related: Speech Therapists: Jefferson Mays and Boyd Gaines [NYM]

‘Pygmalion’ Star Jefferson Mays Saws the Air With His Hands