Entertainment Weekly - February 24 - March 3, 2017

beautiful way to send him off. To

have the last image of him be

who he wanted to be was a testa-

ment to Shonda.

SinceGrey’s, you’ve returned

to the stage.

Theater was what I was raised

on. It was great. I got to do two

Broadway shows [A Life in the

Theatre and It’s Only a Play], two

Off Broadway shows [Pocatello

and Romeo & Juliet]. Every project

I just nerded out big-time. I loved

that reveal. I loved that he was

so unrecognizable because of the

accident. This is the genius of

Shonda: When we finished the

show, I shaved my head. But then

they called to shoot the elevator

scene [in which Katherine Heigl’s

Izzie was in a near-death dream

state], and I was like, s---, will there

be a wig? But it was Shonda’s

idea to put me in an Army uniform,

and I just thought it was such a

gives you something different,

and there’s that challenge you

can’t re-create on a soundstage,

and vice versa. Every little experi-

ence hopefully challenges you—

that’s why we’re doing this instead

of banking, right? I also just

shotWhen We Rise(see sidebar),

which is going to air soon. To

have a small part in telling an epic

story of gay rights, women’s

rights, and civil rights all coming

together—I can’t wait to see it.

When you yourself came out in

Peoplein 2006, you said, “I hope

the fact that I’m gay isn’t the most

interestingpartofme.”Inalotof

ways you were pushed to go pub-

lic about your sexuality, but your

turn of phrase was very inspiring.

Looking back, would you have

done anything differently?

As far as doing things differently,

my mind doesn’t go there. I had

a choice. I guess I could’ve done

the glass-closet thing, but I knew

people who were living like that,

and it wasn’t an option for me.

I just didn’t want to live that way.

Even though it was a little dra-

matic for a couple of years, every

event led to something else. My

departure fromGrey’sled me

to go back to New York, which led

me to meeting my husband. He

really is the best thing that’s

ever happened to me. So I wouldn’t

want to do anything differently

because everything has built

up to this point in my life. I’m

pretty damn lucky. My challenge

is to deserve him and to be

better—unlike some of the people

I play—to work on myself so I

can save the crazy for the role!X

( Clockwise from left )

Knight; with Mireille

Enos onThe Catch;

Knight’s tearjerker of a

death scene onGrey’s

42 (2013)

“There are some jobs that just

make you wake up in the morning

and you can’t believe you’re a

part of it,” he recalls of portraying

real-life Dodgers publicity chief

Harold Parrott in the Jackie

Robinson biopic.

IT’S ONLY A PLAY (2015)

Knight had to strip down to his

skivvies for this star-studded

Broadway comedy. “Some

people get hired to take off their

clothes and it’s not for laughs—

I don’t know what that’s like,”

Knight says. “You’re not going

to hire me to come out of the

shower like Eric Dane.”

11.22.63 (2016)

“We got to shoot on Dealey

Plaza, which was a very eerie

and emotional experience,”

he recalls of filming Hulu’s time-

travel miniseries about the

JFK assassination.

WHEN WE RISE (2017)

Knight admired costar Guy Pearce

in the upcoming ABC docudrama

(see pages 87, 90). “He’s a strong

character and such a good guy.

It was great to act with him.”

FEBRUARY 24/MARCH 3, 2017 EW.COM 67

THE CATCH

: NICOLE WILDER/ABC;

42

: © WARNER BROS. PICTURES/EVERETT COLLECTION;

IT’S ONLY A PLAY

:

WALTER MCBRIDE/GETTY IMAGES;

11.22.63

: MARCO GROB/HULU;

WHEN WE RISE

: EIKE SCHROTER/ABC