In Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , Titus Andromedon is a show-stealing character. Tituss Burgess plays the mostly out-of-work actor who's black, gay and an endearing friend to the very naive Kimmy Schmidt. Burgess may share a first name with his over-the-top character, but he says they're plenty different. Unlike Andromedon, Burgess is a quiet homebody who doesn't need to be the center of attention. He grew up in small-town Georgia before making his way to Broadway and then TV. It's a journey that required many leaps of faith, and he credits one woman with giving him the confidence to take those leaps. "Lena Horne," he says. "I saw The Wiz when I was in the seventh grade. ... The authority with which she sang [' If You Believe' ], watching her telling Dorothy, you know, how exactly to get to where she wants to be, and the way she looked down the barrel of the lens — you could not tell me that this woman was not singing to me. ... I would go back and forth to the library and rent The Wiz ,
↧