As per a recent article by US Weekly, actor and singer Andrew Rannells recently revealed that his short romance with Anderson Cooper was the inspiration behind his character in Girls.
During a recent episode of the Obsessed podcast by The Daily Beast, Rannells revealed that he was 25 when he had dated Anderson Cooper and had narrated the experience to the makers of Girls.
“It was a very brief relationship but when I told them that, they were like, ‘Oh, that’s a fun story,” recalled Andrew Rannells.
The Broadway actor revealed that the plot of his character was influenced by his story of his time with Cooper.
“I told [creators] Lena [Dunham] and Jenni Konner a story about when I was 25 that I had dated Anderson Cooper and I described the experience and what it was like to them,” said Andrew Rannells.
From 2012 till 2019, Rannells portrayed Elijah in the popular HBO series. Hannah (Dunham), who subsequently came out as gay and made friends with his ex-girlfriend, was Elijah’s college ex-boyfriend.
Elijah encounters Dill (Corey Stoll), an older news anchor, in a pub in Girls season 5. Dill and Elijah fall in love and start dating. However, because of their age gap, Dill and Elijah ultimately split up.
“I’m a few episodes behind, but I’m completely engrossed in Girls.” The CNN host told the New York Post in 2016, “I just met Lena Dunham at Sundance and she didn’t mention anything to me, but I’d be flattered. Wait, is that the man that [character] Andrew Rannells is seeing? He reminded me more of [Bill] O’Reilly. Andrew and I are friends. I ought to question him.”
Regarding the fans’ similarities of Cooper and Dill, Andrew Rannells was evasive.
In an interview with Elle at the time, the Tony nominee stated, “I think the general idea that he’s this powerful, you know, adult is what’s important.”
About Andrew Rannells
August 23, 1978, saw the birth of Andrew Rannells in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. His roles as an actor and producer include The Prom (2020), A Simple Favor (2018), and The Intern (2015).
He attended Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was born and reared. He dated Mike Doyle in 2011. He and Tuc Watkins announced their relationship on Instagram in September 2019.
Before beginning his career as a voice actor for children’s video games and television shows, he briefly attended Marymount Manhattan College.
Andrew Rannells is an actor who won a Grammy for his role in the Original Broadway Cast Recording and was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as Elder Price in The Book of Mormon. He played Whizzer in the Broadway production of Falsettos in 2017.
Edited by Saumeya Mehrotra