Actor J. Harrison Ghee credited God for his talent after being the second nonbinary performer to win a Tony Award.
On Sunday night, Harrison, 33, who donned a blue gown, won a Tony Award for best leading actor in a musical, for his role in the musical “Some Like It Hot” at the 76th annual Tony Awards show, according to People.
“My mother raised me to understand that my gifts that God gave me were not about me [but] to use them to be effective in the world,” Ghee, a biological male, said during his acceptance speech at the United Palace Theatre in New York City.
He also said God gave him those gifts “to help somebody else’s journey.”
“So thank you for teaching me how to live, how to love, how to give,” he added.
Ghee continued, “For every trans, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming human who ever was told you couldn’t be, you couldn’t be seen, this is for you.”
Prior to Ghee’s win, he spoke with Time magazine about “bringing men in dresses back to Broadway.”
“Everybody has feelings. So they’re concerned about how it’s going to be perceived and received. And there were moments where I was like, can’t we just be artists and create?” he said.
Harrison also spoke about how having a father who is a minister, and taking part in the church choir shaped him as a performer.
“You know how to make the church go up in a way of, ‘I’m using what I got today.’ Using the gift. So it is definitely such a formative way of learning yourself as an artist,” he told the publication.
Furthermore, Ghee expressed how he felt about potentially winning the award.
“It is exciting to see so many people feeling seen and represented who are like, ‘Wow, thank you. I didn’t know that there was any possibility for me in this world,'” he stated.
Continuing, he said, “And I know that feeling of moving to New York. I wasn’t a theater kid growing up. I grew up singing in church.”
