Exclusive! Groundhog Day Star Andy Karl Reacts to Winning an Olivier Award: 'I'm Over the Moon!'

The best way to spend a day off from starring in a splashy Broadway musical? Watching Star Wars—and winning an Olivier Award. That's exactly how Groundhog Day star Andy Karl spent April 9. As the Olivier Awards were going on in London's Royal Albert Hall, Karl was at home in New York, relaxing after a long week of preview performances at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre. Broadway.com touched base with Karl following his Olivier Award win for Best Actor in a Musical.

"I'm over the moon! I was completely surprised. My wife Orfeh told me the news," Karl told Broadway.com. "I was sitting on the couch recovering from a very long week of previews and rehearsals. I truly wasn't expecting it at all. This sounds so corny, but I was just happy to be nominated. The show is so brilliant. I had nothing to lose but to be as good as I possibly can with the most brilliant material I've ever done in my life."

Karl was also delighted that Tim Minchin's Groundhog Day, directed by Matthew Warchus, won the Olivier for Best Musical for its world premiere at the Old Vic Theatre in London last year. 

"I truly believe in something so much every time I do it. This one I truly believed deserved everything that it got," Karl said. "I'm so excited for Tim [Minchin], Danny [Rubin], Matthew [Warchus], Ellen Kane and Peter Darling. To get a musical on stage is a like climbing Mount Everest 20 times, so I really am so proud that it paid off."

Groundhog Day, starring the newly minted Olivier winner, opens on Broadway on April 17.