Josh Radnor [Actor/Director]

By: Editor | April 14, 2011 | Ten by Ten

After replacing Jason Biggs in the Broadway production of The Graduate in 2002, actor Josh Radnor has since made a significant name for himself. Cast as the lead — and hopelessly uncertain — character in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (which has been recently renewed for two more seasons), his official breakout was on a short-lived series opposite the indomitable Sally Field. From Columbus, Ohio, Radnor’s affinity for the spotlight resulted in receiving the Paul Newman Trophy at Kenyon College and a master’s degree in acting at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. His triple-threat film debut HappyThankYouMorePlease — which he wrote, directed and stars in — won the Audience Award at Sundance and, as it were, garnered flattering reviews before its early 2011 release.

What do you consider your greatest professional success?
Generally: making my living as an actor for more than 10 years. Specifically: writing, directing and acting in an independent film, of which I’m very proud, that’s actually found its way to theaters.

What technology are you currently the most excited about?
An app I just got called Freedom that allows you to keep yourself offline for any amount of time you decide. I’m doing so much writing these days, and the pull of the Internet is massive and irksome. I need some sort of stern taskmaster to slap me across the knuckles with a ruler and keep me focused.

When was the last time you were truly frightened and why?
I got stuck in an elevator with about 15 people in New York last summer. I didn’t realize how claustrophobic I was until that moment. Before I was able to truly panic, the elevator started moving, but it was still entirely unpleasant. I got off at the 10th floor and walked down the stairs. When I hit the streets, I felt like James Franco in the last 10 minutes of 127 hours (albeit with all my limbs still attached).

What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child?
A clown, a cartoonist, a fireman, a Jedi.

What philanthropic/humanitarian cause do you most identify with and why?
Preserving the rainforest and indigenous cultures. There’s so much beauty and wisdom in those cultures that would be of such wonderful use to us were we to learn more about them. I also think all the medical secrets we most long for are in the rainforest. Visionary artist Pablo Amaringo said destroying the rainforest is like burning a library without having read a single book. I was also greatly affected by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book Half the Sky. Oppression of women around the world is horrifying, and the book is a real wake-up call.

Describe your perfect day?
I had three of my best friends from high school over for New Year’s Eve. We went on a hike; we cooked dinner; we set some pretty amazing intentions for the coming year; we meditated from 11:45 to 12:15 (eyes closed in 2010, eyes opened in 2011). Then, the next morning, we watched The Breakfast Club. It actually stretched into a three-day thing where we only left the house once. It was totally perfect.

If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be and why?
In my life or historically? Because there are certainly world-history horrors aplenty one would wish hadn’t happened. I’m not so big on regret, personally. Even if I wished something away in the moment, it all seems to get contextualized as valuable. It’s not so much what happens, I’ve found, as your response to whatever it is that’s happened.

Do you believe in the notion of spreading democracy beyond our borders?
Oh, I don’t know. I’ll let the talking heads duke that one out. I believe in spreading love and compassion and forgiveness beyond our borders, and I define borders rather broadly. Most of us have erected pretty rigid borders around ourselves, and I think the biggest and worthiest challenge of life is extending your definition of those borders, recognizing that all borders are an illusion anyway. They’re not real. We made them up.

What are the fundamental qualities you look for in a lover?
Compassion, kindness, strength, vulnerability, grace, self-possession, curiosity, enthusiasm, optimism.

How will you spend this evening?
Wondering if I came off as too sanctimonious in this interview.

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