Sarah Paulson on the gay man who changed her life: “He’s completely interwoven in my development of self”

And it’s because of Jessica [Lange] that I reconnected with Ryan Murphy, who I had done one episode of Nip/Tuck with years prior. I went for dinner with Jessica in L.A., and Ryan was there, and she was like ‘Can you find something for Sarah to do?’ And Ryan was like, ‘Yeah.’ And then I came on as the medium in season one of American Horror Story, and the rest is history. 

Well, what Ryan gave me unequivocally was a career. My work with him gave me currency as a performer, and he kept asking me to do things that were challenging and operatic, and connected me to a thing I didn’t know I was capable of, which was big swings. I wasn’t aware that I was capable of doing something broad or something brave. 

But the thing that has become very clear to me, that is almost more important than the opportunities he gave me, is that he’s my friend before anything else. He is completely interwoven in my development of self, because through his gaze, I sort of discovered my own tastes, my own sensibilities—what spoke to me, what didn’t.

Emmy winner Sarah Paulson talking to BFF Pedro Pascal in Interview magazine about how ‘American Horror Story‘ creator Ryan Murphy changed the trajectory of her Hollywood career.