After receiving news that she's been nominated for two Emmy awards, Glee's Jane Lynch walked the red carpet with her wife, Lara Embry, en route to accept the Outfest Achievement award for her body of work. Lynch received the award Thursday night at Los Angeles's 28th annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival from Emmy-nominated costar Chris Colfer and Emmy-nominated director Paris Barclay.
Read the entire transcript of Lynch’s speech below:
Thank you so much. You know I stood up here a couple of years back to give this same award to Donna Deitch, an opportunity for me wax poetic about the effect Desert Hearts has had on us lesbians and its powerful impact over 25 years, and then last year I was delighted to see Don Roos so deservedly accept this award, a guy so diverse and brilliant. I am humbled by the company I now keep.
Thank you, Paris. Paris Barclay is my friend. We met several years ago on a pilot. I immediately loved his honesty and direct manner. As I was about to do my audition for him, he said, “Please, just don’t bore me.” We found out we have many things in common, which on the surface are not so apparent. We both come from the godforsaken south suburbs of Chicago. Let's see, what else do we have in common? We both love a good laugh at someone else’s expense; we enjoy a more loosey-goosey style of working so that it almost feels like we’re wasting everyone’s time. And what I adore that about him, nothing is too precious or too serious. And yet the result of his work is always so honest and real and damn funny. Oh, and we’re both Cancers and we’re both homos. And I’m so glad you and Christopher did not get on that plane you almost boarded on September 11, 2001.
Chris. I couldn’t be more proud of you and to have my name associated with yours. You are grace and dignity personified. The entire world has just embraced you and who you are. But none more than gay and lesbian kids, who now have a courageous and fashion-forward role model and über-cool guy to look up to. Not to belittle the other Glee kids, but you got the most applause on the tour and they all will confirm that. You’re a bright light. It’s a lot to put on your young shoulders, but I don’t worry about you, because you have a wise old grandma that lives in you, keeping your feet on the ground and making sure everyone has enough to eat.
I don’t choose a project because it's gay or straight; I really only choose it because of the people I get to work with and what’s to eat. When someone like Guy Shalem (who’s a big mo) asks me to work with him I don’t ask to see a script. Mainly because I know it will be spotty, incomplete, and he’ll expect me to fill it in, but because he’s a brilliant director, and no one can edit your work and hand you a performance the way he does. His short in the festival is called Shark Tank. Check it out.
I’ve done quite a few shorts that have made their way to this festival. They were all done for fun and for free. I find that the less money in the budget, the more fun the show and the more “can-do” the attitude. Everyone pitches in. And we all get a chance to take a crack at a job we aspire to but don’t have any experience in. The AD’s day job may be a PA. The producer of Anne Renton’s short is an AD on Grey’s Anatomy; the director on another one may be a DP on another show. A character actor like me can be the lead and finally be number 1 on the call sheet, thank you, Cherien Dabis.
It’s this “let’s put on a show” vibe that I just love; it’s what absolutely magnetized me to a life in the theater and now TV and film.
I love being part of a group, a creative family, if you will, and this festival keeps that spirit in film making alive by giving these special films a forum. I’m so glad to see so many people here tonight this year’s Outfest, we’ve got to keep supporting this festival. We all know how vital it is for us and all the homos, especially the folks outside of N.Y. or L.A., to see their stories told.
I especially want to thank Kirsten Schaffer for her leadership and relentless spirit even whilst nine months pregnant.
I get asked for advice all the time. I don’t why anyone would think I know what I’m doing. My life and my career has been one accident after another. I have just gone headlong, balls-out, and fevered, never coming up for air, for a good bunch of years, and I don’t know that this is very good advice to give anyone. And I know there are a lot of aspiring actors and filmmakers out there, and perhaps they want me to give them words of wisdom or the keys to the kingdom or let them in on the big secret. So I will defer to Carol Brady, who in her infinite wisdom once said, “Find what it is you do best and do your best with it.”
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