Aaron Lazar of The Light in the Piazza

Currently: Playing the handsome, high-spirited Florentine Fabrizio in The Light in the Piazza.

Hometown: A true Jersey boy, Lazar responds, "Cherry Hill, baby!"

Mr. Grumpy: Lazar became fascinated with acting at a young age. His uncle, who was an actor, got him the role of Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when he was seven years old. "I thought this was the coolest thing," Lazar said. "Everyone came to the show and my parents threw a big party for it." After that, Lazar stayed on the academic track focusing on getting into a good college. He did however have time to win talent shows, become a state ranked discus thrower and sing in the school choir.

Smarty Pants: Lazar was awarded a vocal scholarship to Duke University, where his next move would have been medical school. He was involved in several theatrical productions while at Duke and that's when things got complex. "I'm going to take the MCATS and if I do well then it's a sign I should go to medical school and if I don't do well then it's a sign I should move to New York. It's a tricky game," he said. That tricky game got a little trickier when Lazar got into the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and did well on the MCATS. "I didn't know what to do," Lazar remembers. "Then it turned out that the MCAT scores are good for three years and the graduate program was for two years. So I gave myself one year in New York to try and get a job."

Dinner for 200: After productions here and there Lazar was finally able to make his Broadway debut in The Phantom of the Opera. Unbeknownst to him, his parents invited 200 people to his opening night performance in the show. "There were 200 people wearing t-shirts with my headshot on the back," Lazar laughs. "I also brought with me this woman who I had just started dating, who would become my wife. Everyone was there from my 7th grade English teacher to people who I haven't seen since my Bar Mitzvah. It was hilarious, but it was amazing."

You're not Italian?: The Piazza role of Fabrizio is not a typical Broadway part, as half of it is in Italian. But Lazar had no problem with the language. "I had one session with a dialect coach and that was it. I'm sure if I needed more they would have given me more," Lazar said. "I feel a responsibility to being a hundred percent legitimately believable at being Italian because that's only fair to all the Italian people who see the show."

Falling for the Dream: To Lazar, playing Fabrizio is a dream come true. "Telling this story is the most challenging thing I've ever done, but at the same time the most exciting thing I have ever done," he says, adding that there are still moments when he's scared of falling on his face. "I slip and fall on my ass at least once a week. I'm on the verge of falling down the stairs almost every time, but that's just the fun of it."