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Jonathan Groff has a new philosophy about apples; he may never look at an apple the same way again thanks to his role as an apple factory worker in C.O.G. based on a story by David Sedaris. Jonathan tells host Robin Milling he spent months on a real assembly line alongside workers amazed by what goes into sorting the bright red fruit.
Growing up in Lancaster, PA farm country Jonathan was no stranger to menial jobs. For his horse trainer father he shoveled poop out of horse stalls and drove a tractor spraying weeds on the horse farm. His grandmother had many Amish women working her garden so Jonathan would often drive them home after mowing her lawn. He laughs, 'Sometimes I was an Amish chauffeur!'
Jonathan who is Mennonite never opened up about his sexuality in high school. It wasn't until he got to New York that he came out. Recently he tells Robin he returned home for his high school musical where many of the students were out and proud. 'They were out living their lives and I thought, 'wow this is so great that this is happening now because the idea of doing that when I was high school seemed just crazy!'
Choosing projects where his character is gay like C.O.G., The Normal Heart and Looking for HBO are just happy coincidences. He says, 'I'm thrilled to be doing these gay-themed projects because obviously I have a personal stake in them and it means a lot to me. Kids are able to see more stuff like this on TV and hopefully it makes people more comfortable and as time goes along it becomes a non-issue.'