Name: Zoe Kazan
Age: 26
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Occupation: Actor, sometimes writer. Currently appearing in A Behanding in Spokane on Broadway.
Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Patti Smith is my favorite New Yorker I don’t know. But my real favorite New Yorker is the one who sleeps next to me …
What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
My surprise birthday party last year: dumplings from Eton, cupcakes from Betty, and pizza from Lucali. Not the BEST meal, per se, but a memorable one.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
I spend the first ten hours of my day protecting my sanity, so I can spend 90 minutes at the end of it pretending to be someone else in front of 1,000 strangers.
Would you live here on a $35,000 salary?
I have, I have on much less, I would again.
What’s the last thing you saw on Broadway?
The dress rehearsal of RED, down the block from us.
Do you give money to panhandlers?
Sometimes.
What’s your drink?
Red wine or whiskey.
How often do you prepare your own meals?
A couple times a week, more if you count a bowl of cereal.
What’s your favorite medication?
Excedrin Migraine.
What’s hanging above your sofa?
A photograph given to us by one of my best friends. Tacked up with thumbtacks.
How much is too much to spend on a haircut?
It depends how important your hair is to your job. Jennifer Aniston should totally spend on her hair; John Edwards, not so much. I haven’t paid for a haircut in years, since it almost always gets cut at work.
When’s bedtime?
Between 1 and 3 a.m.
Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square?
I missed out on the OLD old Times Square, with hookers and penny arcades. I think I would have liked that best.
What do you think of Donald Trump?
He must be really smart, to play that dumb on TV.
What do you hate most about living in New York?
That I’m too big to be pushed around in a stroller.
Who is your mortal enemy?
Whoever made it an impossibility to have a nationally subsidized arts program in this country.
When’s the last time you drove a car?
Early January, my boyfriend and I drove from Connecticut to Lake Placid in a rental.
How has the Wall Street crash affected you?
Fewer movies are getting financed, so there are fewer parts. I haven’t been working less so far, but it’s a difficult time for our business, as it is for so many.
Times, Post, or Daily News?
Times.
Where do you go to be alone?
There’s a room in our apartment that we painted pink, and there’s a little white bed in it. I lie on that bed and write.
What makes someone a New Yorker?
Being able to stand on any street corner and have a memory there.
