Q: What happens when a guy born and raised in Texas announces to his parents that he wants to go to Juilliard? Do they start looking at you funny?A: My parents are very supportive. But they were definitely of the mind set that actors don’t really need schooling. So they said, “If you want to do this, go ahead, but it’s not something we’re interested in supporting financially.” I said that I wanted to do it, and I was fortunate enough to get in… And my parents would come and visit me once in a while. Q: You started in the revival earlier this year of Prelude to a Kiss on Broadway, and the New York Times review said you lacked “the glamour” of the shows original star, Alec Baldwyn. Is that the biggest insult you’ve ever gotten?A: Well, [Alec Baldwyn] is a very glamorous man. (Laughs.) He already had a bit of a name when the play first premiered. I don’t think “Tudyk” is a huge name right now or has lots of glamour around it. But you can’t really take reviews too seriously. There was a line in that review about how my looks “straddle the line between handsome and goofy.” They put that line up on the poster boards in the lobby. And there’s just enough truth to that statement, so you’re like, “Damn, why did you have to write that?” Q: Was there ever a point in your career where you thought, “This next project is going to turn me into a huge star”?A: I was so excited (about I, Robot). It was with Will Smith, and all of my scenes were with him and Bridget Moynahan. I mean, it’s called I Robot, and I’m playing the robot. So I thought this was going to give me massive exposure. But they CGI-ed me. You don’t get much exposure when you’re not actually exposed. Q: You played Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball. Are you ever going to be able to live that one down?A: I did say, as I was filming the movie, “I think people are going to be saying ‘Grrrr’ to me for a very long time,” and I was right. I just finished a radio interview where it happened. They were pimping me to try to get me to do [a Steve the Pirate impression]. Depending on my mood, I’ll do it.

Q: You spend most of Death at a Funeral stark naked. Did you get uncomfortable after a while?

A: When a woman is nude on set, everyone is very respectful. If you even dare to look in the woman’s direction, it’s like, “What are you doing you pervert?” But when it’s a guy, there are people on set from accounting. Everybody’s there. To even be shy about it is ridiculous.

Q: What were you thinking when you were told that your character would be on drugs for most of the film?

A: “I thought, Wheee! I’m going to be high for a few months. But it translates to 12-hour days with 6 day weeks and every scene has an element of speed. So you have to have this locomotive of energy and be ready to go! The minute it’s not there Frank would want to cut.”

Q: Did you draw on any personal experiences for the part?

A: “I had one hallucinogen, mushrooms, when I was in college, which was in Jacksonville, Texas, a small town.” It was Tudyks last night in college and at a going-away lake party he met a guy named Rodney who offered him “six big mushrooms. He said, ‘Eat ‘em all in front of me – and I did and I had a trip”.