Billy Eichner

And I thought, okay, what is the root of all of this?

Why was I able to accomplish all of this?

Being gay, not ever being the prettiest person to walk into the audition room.

I'm a fine looking person, but by Hollywood standards.

You know, what gave me the chutzpah, as my parents would have said and my grandparents would have said, what gave me that confidence to kind of blaze through?

And I had to sit down and think, well, what was it?

And I started thinking about my childhood.

I started thinking about all the ways my parents always supported my interest and passion to the best of their ability.

Again, even though they weren't wealthy people, when I got into Northwestern, which has a renowned theater program, but is also a very expensive school.

And the assumption was because we were in New York that I would always go to NYU, which is not a cheap school.

but at least would mean I was staying local.

And I got into Northwestern and my dad took me to visit Northwestern.

And we sat in on an acting class.

It was just the two of us.

And I turned to him after and I said, I love that acting class so much.

That is exactly where I want to be and who I want to be.

And he said, okay, we'll make it happen.

He said to me, if you want to go there, we'll do what we have to do.

And it was financial aid, and it was loans, and it was student loans for me.

I didn't pay back my Northwestern loans until I got Billy on the Street on TV when I was 32 years old.