Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the award -winning actor, podcaster, activist and business owner, best known for his role in the successful Sitcom “Modern Family”, went to Oxford as part of the University of Miami conference series on February 24.
Miami’s student sat with him before the event in an exclusive interview which includes humor, heart and intrepid authenticity.
Questions and answers have been modified for conciseness and clarity.
The interview begins, as always, with a question of warm -up.
So many of your most famous lines live without rent in our minds that Tiktok audios. Do you have lines that you can’t keep out of your head?
Ferguson was especially shocked that he infiltrated Tiktok.
“Oh my God. Do they really live there?” Said Ferguson. “I can’t believe it.”
He answered the question by embarking on a story, a brutal transition that would soon become characteristic of the interview as a whole.
“Someone came to me the other day, and she (said):” How is the pigeon? “,” Said Ferguson. “I obviously didn’t eat a pigeon, but I thought:” Oh, it’s series “, and I replied:” Pigéon? It lives in my head after that.
Other memorable lines include the “modern family” Classics like “No my God!” and “shaaame” (Both were said in delicious identity theft).
But Ferguson is more than a few catchy liners. As an openly gay man and activist, Ferguson has become a face for the LGBTQ +rights movement, a cause that has recently been attacked in Ohio with the imminent passage of the Senate bill 1.
Many students and staff at the University of Miami feel anxious and upset by the threat that recent legislation and current social dynamics present themselves to the initiatives of Dei. How do you find courage in times like these?
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“I am also looking for this answer,” said Ferguson. “But I also turn to people who have already crossed these things before, and they always say that it’s a few steps forward and a few steps back. This is how it has always been, so I try to find comfort in the fact that progress also occurs with disappointment. »»
He recognized that it was difficult for him as a member of the Queer community, but that it is also a difficult period for women and other minority groups.
“I wanted a girl so much, but this world is not at all kind to women,” said Ferguson. “I wouldn’t know how to raise a girl in this environment, how to protect it (it). I just have to rely on other people who feel the same thing as me, because I think that the power in number is significant. »»
However, Ferguson tried to end on a positive note.
“I have confidence in humanity. I have the faith that many people do not want these (inversions of rights) to occur, “said Ferguson. “It will not be forever, but for the moment, it’s incredibly frustrating.”
Ferguson’s work in the LGBTQ +community, as well as his own openness to his sexuality and his commitment to display realistic gay characters, have made him what many consider to be “gay icon. “”
Is the pressure to be a representative of the LGBTQ + community happens to you?
“It happened to me much more when I was sailing for the first time as a known person playing a famous gay part, because I felt a great responsibility, (like) a kind of weight on my shoulders,” said Ferguson. “I had the impression that there was very little room so that I could deceive, as if there was very little room for me to make mistakes and not be blamed for them.”
Fortunately, Ferguson learned to raise part of this pressure.
“I leave a lot of this pressure,” said Ferguson. “I think errors obviously come to everyone, (but) they are an opportunity to show humanity and show that we are all defective people.”
For him, the possibility of being someone’s first introduction to the LGBTQ + community in a positive way makes more potential errors.
“When you have the great privilege of playing a gay character on television, you know that (the character) will be in the living room of people and exhibit the public perhaps their first gay friend, or the first gay person,” said Ferguson. “You want to do a good job, but at the same time, it is a question of being honest towards yourself and not to leave the pressure to arrive, because nobody works well under pressure.”
While Ferguson made a familiar name with “modern family”, his first love was musical theater. Among the other emblematic performances of Broadway, Ferguson won a Tony for his performance in “Take Me Out”.
His love for human sciences and live theater inspired the following question.
There are a lot of discussions on how the human sciences And live theater are under pressure or even dying. How do you perceive this decline, if you see it happening?
“We are in a very delicate place politically, and I think it is normal to self-preserve yourself and take care of us, and to move away from the pressure of having to repair and rebuild all the time,” said Ferguson. “We have to self-preserve and we have to take care of ourselves.”
Like his previous response to LGBTQ +rights, Ferguson finds value in the community.
“There are so many people who are also in the same boat (…), it will take a village to help keep these things alive,” said Ferguson. “But there will always be people who care so deeply too, and that’s something I have to remember: I am not on an island like the only person who cares about humanity and the arts.”
Part of being in the humanities means wearing many different hats, and Ferguson is no stranger to branch. His podcast, “Dinner’s on Me”, welcomes famous guests in a more intimate catering setting and promotes deep conversations with remarkable efficiency.
How do you get more significant links with those around you?
“I mean, we are all put on this earth to learn from each other, and the experiences of others are so precious for us,” said Ferguson. “There is such beauty in our differences, and I think that sharing these differences with each other is a really powerful thing.”
Ferguson has attributed his ability to put the guests at ease at his opening to difficult conversations, while remaining especially without judgment.
“If you could speak of a place of authenticity, I think it is a great privilege to be able to do so. I love having difficult conversations. I love having open conversations. I love not agreeing with people, ”said Ferguson. “The only way we are going to move forward, certainly in this world in which we are now, is to hear the thoughts and opinions of others and learn to be compassionate where our common points and our differences are.”
When did you realize that you were funny?
Although the question is not a joke, Ferguson laughed.
“It’s actually funny, because I was a very shy child,” said Ferguson. “I don’t remember the first time I laughed at my family. I suppose that (during) speech and debate, when I was doing a comic interpretation, and I had people who made fun of me. It was probably the first time I realized that I understood how to laugh. »»
From Shy Kid to now, it worked well enough for Ferguson.