TFT Alumnus Michael Stuhlbarg Is Nominated for a Tony Award

Sunday night, former UCLA theater student Michael Stuhlbarg attended the Tony Awards in New York with his sister. Nominated for his portrayal of Michael in the new Broadway hit “The Pillowman,” the good-natured former Bruin was brimming with excitement about viewing the ceremony not from a television screen, but up close and personal. Though Stuhlbarg did not walk away with the Tony this time, it was his first appearance at the event and marked a turning point in his life and career.

“I have watched the event multiple times from afar, so to be invited and included in it is a remarkable thing,” said Stuhlbarg. “I have no complaints.”

As a boy growing up in Long Beach, Stuhlbarg was introduced to theater fairly early in his childhood.

“My mom put my sister and me in the local community center and made us audition against our will,” he laughed. “I guess it just stuck. I discovered something that I loved doing.”

As a Southern California native, Stuhlbarg eventually found himself in the acclaimed UCLA Department of Theater, where he studied from 1986-1988 before transferring to Julliard in New York.

“I started out here pursuing a wonderful liberal arts education with a focus on the theater,” he said. “But I found that I took advantage of all the different aspects of theater like design and stage craft, and I even did a little directing. I got a really broad idea of what theater could offer me, and then I decided it was the right time to get into performance, so I auditioned for Julliard.”

“The Pillowman” is a dark performance about a short story author, played by Billy Crudup, who is under interrogation by two cops, one played by Jeff Goldblum, because some recent heinous murders mirror those depicted in the author’s stories. Stuhlbarg plays Crudup’s disturbed younger brother, whose mental handicap gives him the creepy effect of someone who is both childlike and dangerous. The totalitarian state in which they live hardly makes for an easy interrogation, yet the script is bitingly funny.

“I don’t really know if there is a message to the play,” Stuhlbarg said. “There are a number of subjects touched upon and it is a unique experience in that it is a supremely serious subject matter coupled with hysterical comedic writing. There is a sense of redemption in this play, and it makes for a very moving night of theater.”

Though his successful career has taken him all the way to New York, Stuhlbarg still remembers his days in Los Angeles with great fondness and frequently returns to Southern California to visit his family, who still live here.

“I am still friends with many of the people I went to UCLA with, and the education I received there affected me profoundly,” he said. “I just received a really sweet card from Professor (Michael) McLain, who did ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with me when I was an undergrad.”

UCLA theater Professor Gary Gardner was also a part of the “Romeo and Juliet” production of the mid-‘80s that Stuhlbarg starred in, and he remembers Stuhlbarg with nothing but praise.

“He was a sweet, dear person, and the least egotistical actor in the world,” Gardner said. “When he wasn’t cast in an original play called ‘Bottoms Up,’ he volunteered to play saxophone. He really deserves this nomination.”

But New York may not have entirely claimed this L.A. actor as its own. Stuhlbarg has his sights set on television and film, which, according to him, will bring him back to his Southern California roots.

“I am very interested in getting into pilots and movies in Los Angeles,” Stuhlbarg said. “If you are a stage actor, you must be in New York, but if you are a media actor, L.A. is the place to be. I love to do both, so I hope that my career will take me there and back again numerous times.”

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"gary gardner" "michael stuhlbarg" 

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