2016年9月23日、雑誌Corduroy Magazine の ISSUE 11に、アーロンのインタビューが掲載されました。この写真、クラシックな雰囲気がとても素敵です。アーロンは本当にスーツが似合うなぁ。
“I meet people who are like, ‘Oh, I expected you to be an asshole or a dirt-bag and wow, you’re actually a nice guy.’”
Let’s just establish it here: Aaron Tveit is not an asshole, he just played one on Gossip Girl. Off screen, the 32-year-old Middletown, NY Native is so polite and aww-gee-shucks nice that it’s hard to believe it’s genuine – but it is.
Case in point: the actor is calling from his recently-purchased home in New York after just getting in from a late audition, and despite battling a pesky cold. He can’t charm with his dancing blue eyes and trademark dimples over the phone, but Tveit quickly proves there’s more to him than a pretty face, a big voice, and an almost unpronounceable name.
He’s a former athlete who almost played college basketball instead of picking up a Playbill, so it’s easy to understand why he’s been so strategic when it comes to his career. During his success on Broadway, originating roles in critical darlings Next to Normal and Catch Me if You Can, Tveit was offered an audition for the lead on future TV hit, Glee. The opportunity came at a time that Tveit calls, “very frustrating,” because he was losing out on so many film and television roles that he lost count. Any other musical kid would have chomped at the chance to sing and dance on a network show. Tveit turned down the audition.
“I was worried that if I did Glee, people would perceive me differently afterwards,” he admits. Petrified of being pigeonholed as a “teen actor,” he took a risk. The gamble paid off, and he’s been able to parlay his Broadway success into lead roles in both big budget films like Les Miserables, as well as television shows like the gritty and well-received Graceland.
Still, Tveit hasn’t completely escaped the attention of teen girls. An actor whose looks were once described as “part Disney Prince, part Abercrombie and Fitch model,” Tveit cringes at the thought of being considered a sex symbol. Laughing, he recalls the time a friend sent him a Buzzfeed post entitled, “The 42 Most Seductively Charming Aaron Tveit Moments of All Time.” He couldn’t make it past number eight.
His modesty is almost as memorable as another signature Tveit attribute: mystery. In the current Hollywood climate where social media is an integral publicity strategy and staged photo ops are part of the game, Tveit refuses to play. “I just think that if people don’t know about you so much, then they’ll have an easier time believing whatever you’re trying to play.”
It was his very believable, scene-stealing turn as Enjolras in the Oscar-nominated Les Mis that made everyone take notice – and learn how to say his name (It’s Tuh-VATE by the way). That role led to what the actor calls the best experience of his career.
“Somebody said to me recently, ‘You’re going to be able to show Les Mis to your kids in 30 years,” he says, still clearly reveling in the thought. “That was like, a ‘holy shit’ moment for sure.”
It looks as though there will be lots of “holy shit” moments in Tveit’s future, proof that sometimes, nice guys really do come out on top.