Stark Sands Best Featured Actor in a Play for Journey's End

"This morning I woke up to use the bathroom, and I noticed that it was 8:15am. And I thought, 'Aren't the nominations today?' So I thought, 'Well, I could go back to sleep, or maybe I could find them on TV.' So I turn on the TV, go to NY1, and sure enough they say, 'In five minutes we're going to announce the Tony nominations.' So I'm sitting there in my boxers, groggy-eyed, crossing my fingers for the show to be recognized, for [director] David Grindley to be nominated, with really never a thought that I would be named at all. Then they said my name and I think I said, 'What?' So I'm really more surprised than anyone. I'm flabbergasted. And to have Jane Krakowski—who's a friend of mine from a movie we did together years ago—be the one to read my name was really neat.

My family lives on the other side of the country. So of course, right away, I called my mom, but she was still sleeping. My brother's in California and my sister's in Colorado, so…I couldn't get anyone on the phone! I grew up in Dallas and I was the guy who did theater in high school (I've been doing it since I was 13), so I've always dreamed of being in this position. And people have been mentioning it, like, 'Oh, maybe you'll get a nomination, blah, blah…,' and I always sort of brush it aside.

When I was sitting here for a moment after the initial shock, one thing that struck me: I was just got so excited about doing the show tonight! I mean, I always get excited to do the show, but I am really excited about going back and doing it.
I've been treasuring every moment I've got up there. And now that's been amplified 10 times."