Puppet Sex, Intoxication, Naked Confessions & Dream Roles: 68 Secrets of the 2013 Tony Nominees

Before the awards are given out on June 9, Broadway.com is looking back on the shocking secrets, compelling confessions and awesome advice offered up by this year’s nominees. From nasty fan encounters to drunken public appearances, this year’s Tony hopefuls really made our jaws drop. Read on to really get to know the 2013 Tony Award nominees.

What do Billy Magnussen and Shalita Grant have in common, other than being the featured Tony-nominated stars of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike? Both got drunk and naked (not together!!) the night before Tony nominations were announced.

Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana are perfection onstage in Cinderella, but we really love this duo’s off-stage rapport. Fontasnes (Osnesana? Hmm!) isn’t afraid to embarrass each other on Twitter, offer critical comments on camera or get silly backstage. It’s no wonder they nabbed the honor of Favorite Pair at this year's Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike star Kristine Nielsen is itching to take on Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker, and she isn’t afraid to tell you about it…twice.

Tom Hanks is just like us. No, really! The two-time Oscar winner treasures his high school track award over all other honors (once again: two Oscars!), he gets emotional about his late loved ones (duh! he's human...maybe more human than anyone) and he makes his family nuts with his driving habits. OK, so he's a world-famous movie star. Maybe he's not exactly like us.

Gabriel Ebert may play a meanie onstage, but this nominee is simply likable offstage. The Matilda star dreams of being a dad like Heathcliff Huxtable, worries about looking respectable on the red carpet and knows how to play the ukulele. Don't you love him? (We do!)

Big Knife nominee Richard Kind is a fun-loving guy who is always good for a laugh, but he does some things super seriously, like poker, golf and his New York Times obituary.

My gosh! Pippin leading lady Patina Miller can really do it all: perform circus tricks, “knit a fierce scarf,” hula hoop and plan a wedding. What can't this second-time nominee can’t conquer? French fries! 

Bertie Carvel is still taking in all the excitement of leading a Broadway show and being a first-time Tony nominee. The Matilda headliner tries to balance the fervor by weekend getaways to the mountains, “mass-auges” and keeping all his “athletic” focus on The Trunchbull.

When Pippin is ready to replace its current stars, we know one Tony nominee who is definitely up to the acrobatic task. Motown’s Valisia LeKae will fit right in with her “legs over her head” trick. Watch out, Andrea Martin!

Speaking of Martin, this Pippin showstopper shocked us when she relayed the story of a deranged Fiddler fan who actually thought she lost her funny. Um…clearly that misguided individual hasn’t seen her Ask a Star video.

Kinky Boots headliner Billy Porter just might be the hardest-working actor on Broadway, giving full-out Jennifer-Holliday-divaness at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. So what’s this long-time stage star’s secret to success? A scotch on his day off. You deserve it, Billy! Cheers!

Is there an actor with more dream roles than Drood nominee Will Chase? In the course of the season, he’s told us that he dreams of leading Broadway revivals of Guys & Dolls, Carousel, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Sweeney Todd. Talk about keepin’ busy! Next up for the nominee? Little Miss Sunshine!

Newly engaged Tony nominees Carrie Coon and Tracy Letts gave us glimpse into what their home life might be like. They both admitted to be super competitive and not-so-secret Cyndi Lauper fans. Now we’re imagining the fiercest “Time After Time” lip-sync battles between these former Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? co-stars.

Broadway should send a big thank-you note to the Catholic Church for the gift of Nathan Lane. The two-time Tony winner, who gives a stunning performance in The Nance, credited Zero Mostel and his service as an altar boy for sparking his passion in theater.

The name on everybody's lips is Tony. More specifically, Golden Boy Tony nominee Tony Shalhoub. An astounding 14 fellow Tony hopefuls named Shalhoub as their favorite celebrity named Tony. 

The Assembled Parties’ Judith Light told Broadway.com that she “feels very connected to the Kinky Boots folks.” Funny, here we thought she was sharing a pretty significant connection with A Christmas Story nominee Benj Pasek.

For some contenders, winning a Tony would be leap and bounds ahead of anything they’ve ever won before. Take for example, Scandalous star Carolee Carmello, who regards a cassette tape recorder as the best thing she’s won. Or better yet, Hardbody’s Keala Settle whose biggest prize was “a piece of gum.” Aim higher, people!

If Broadway doesn’t work out for Kinky Boots’ Annaleigh Ashford, she could always do commercials for Depends. Ashford, it seems, has a slight history bladder control problems (Example A and B). Oh, Annaleigh!

Pippin’s Terrence Mann may be a “dumb old actor” now, but as a youth he said he mostly idolized rock stars (like Mick Jagger). He went on to list Tony the Tiger as his favorite celebrity named Tony. Jagger? Tony the Tiger? That surely explains this.

She may play a mild-mannered young bride in The Trip to Bountiful, but Condola Rashad is anything but reserved. This two-time nominee eats Chipotle with Cicely Tyson, kikis with The Golden Girls and RuPaul’s Drag Race and does one mean meow!

One would think after four Tony nominations, we’d know just about all there is to know about Golden Boy’s Danny Burstein. Not so! We unearthed the ultimate Burstein tidbit: he was flashed by Patti LuPone backstage at Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. How do you like them eggrolls, Mr. Goldstone?

Chaplin’s title star Rob McClure not only gave one of our favorite performances of the season, he’s also become a refreshing new friend. This first-time nominee opened up about puppet sex with his wife, rocking out to Billy Porter, his new tattoo and crying at camp. He even invited us into his personal Chaplin museum.

Stephanie J. Block is not a tipsy all the time, though she was the night Idina Menzel won the Tony for Wicked. It worked out for the Funny Girl hopeful who went on to co-star on Broadway with her “asshole” dog, exchange Christmas gifts with Chita Rivera and back it up in “Bustle Fluffah.”

We should all be so lucky to have a friend as good as Kinky Boots nominee Stark Sands. Sands continually gave love to his bestie and fellow nominee Charl Brown (we like to call them "Starl"). Sands is also loudly rooting for his co-star and category rival Billy Porter (“That is my dream for Billy, to take this thing. It would be the best,” he told us the day they were both nominated). Needless to say, Stark Sands is the definition of a gentleman. Hats off!