“I’m just enjoying it as much as possible,” says of his third career Tony nomination. “I think it’s a huge deal … this doesn’t happen all the time and it’s wonderful.” The actor is nominated for Smash, where he plays Nigel, the director of an ill-fated bio-musical. Smash is Ashmanskas’ 16th Broadway show in a career that spans 30 years. He made his main stem debut in the 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and went on to earn Tony nominations for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and The Prom. In a recent Gold Derby interview, Ashmanskas breaks down his approach to his high energy characters.

In some ways, yes. I think I just wanted to work and I've been very fortunate and been able to do so for a long time. And so yes. I think back to when I was a kid, if this is what I dreamed of, I don't even know if I had that dream. I always wanted to work on Broadway, but I can't remember it being very specific. It just was like if I were lucky enough to do it. And I've been very lucky to do it quite a bit, and I still enjoy it, which is crazy.

I don't think I necessarily have one. But I think when you work on something for a long time, which we have with this, and one character for a long time, I think you sort of become more fluent with their language. We've had to run it a lot of times and we had presentations and readings. So I had a lot of opportunities to do it over and over again. If it's not scripted, I find it very difficult to just make things up. I just think you become more fluent with the character. I think in general, as you get later in the process, I think the actor speaks the language, if not more fluently, as fluently as the writer. And so when you were working with someone like Bob and who wrote the script, they're so collaborative and wonderful, you also feel a freedom to do so. You don't feel limited by them. If you're trying to find something that's a punchline or something that's funny and that there's something maybe missing there, if something comes to you, that's when you trust your gut.

With Nigel, it was pretty quick. Because it's a world I live in. I think if it were a world of cubicles or whatever, finance or something, I don't think I would have that same sort of knowledge within me and experience. But mostly it's the situations people are in. Nigel, he's a very put upon person. A lot of things happen that he has to deal with and pretend to be in control of. And so I think you can just sort of imagine what anyone would do in that position and just go from there.

Honestly, nothing specific. But when people have asked, or people who are not in the theater and they see the show when they think: God, that's way too much, that would never happen. However funny, they may find it or not. I can tell you that every single thing that happens in the show, all of us have lived through it a number of times in every show to whatever degree. It's like there's always someone who gets hurt or sick at the wrong moment. And there are egos to deal with. Although I've been really lucky on that front. I haven't worked with a lot of crazy people. Most of the people I work with are lovely. But it's all real. It's all very, very real.

Oh, I love working with Susan. She's so collaborative and she's also a really wildly prepared person. She knows what she wants, which is great. And then whatever you bring, she has a real lovely way of incorporating that. And she's fun and she's a great audience. She giggles and things, and it's worth a lot. So you know where you're at. And on this one particularly, I've known her a long time, but it just seemed very calm in contrast to what's going on in the show. It wasn't manic or anything. And new musicals are very difficult to do. Some would say the most difficult thing to do in the arts, but it was a lovely, calm, fun experience.

Well, yeah, mostly because I'm old now. I'm not 20. I'm not 50! But the eight shows a week, the grind of doing a show, it's difficult no matter what. No matter how young or old you are, it's just hard. It’s wonderful, but it's hard to do. And now that I'm older, even walking up onto a curb, I'm exhausted! And so yes, it is tiring, but it's kind of great. I imagine that’s what people say when they do a workout. Clearly I don't know what that means, but it gets your blood flowing and it's fun. And the group at the theater, the cast is great, and the crew and everyone's so fun, and it makes it a lot easier to do, especially when the audience is having a great time.

That was very fortunate. First of all, Smash came along and Mattress came along and it fit in a pocket of time. That never happens in the theater. If you have opportunities, it never rains, but it pours and you always have to say no to something in order to say yes to something else. And that's always sort of depressing. So the fact that it worked into the schedule, knowing that we were going to be doing Smash later? What a gift. It was, again, a really terrific group of people. It was a pretty low impact part, one that I enjoyed doing very much, but it wasn't like I had to climb trees or anything. It was a lovely, perfect little gem of an experience. And then I had a couple of weeks off, which was nice. It was perfect and lucky.

I wouldn't say I'm itching to do anything specific. I don't have that gene in me. I don't say, "Oh, I need to play Willy Loman!" In fact, I don't need to play Willy Loman. Maybe Linda Lowman. But I think my career has been a lot of characters that are similar in a way. They're sort of high energy. There's a part of me that thinks, because I'm old, wouldn't it be great to just sit at a table for an hour and 20, and everything you say is smart and witty and then you bow? I think a low impact show like Mattress actually was that, it was a gift. It's a lovely little part and then you go home and cry for a while. But the grass is always greener. I'd love to do a play as opposed to a musical. I've been lucky to sort of go back and forth sometimes, and that's been really great to be able to do that.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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