Before Jesse Tyler Ferguson starred on “Modern Family,” he was a bartender at the Winter Garden Theater in Midtown Manhattan, when “Cats” was in performances there. It was 1995, and he had come to New York from Albuquerque. He was cast in the Off Broadway production of “On the Town,” which later moved to Broadway.

“These professional dancers and singers in ‘Cats’ were auditioning for the same role as me, and I got it,” he said. “It’s like my Shirley MacLaine story.”

After starring in the original Broadway production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Mr. Ferguson was cast as the uptight lawyer Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom. After the show ended in 2020, he won a Tony Award for “Take Me Out.”

Now he is starring as Truman Capote in the play “Tru.” He recently spent his day off with The New York Times.