NEW YORK - Hunter Parrish, who was raised in the conservative Texas town of Plano, has played a pot dealer on TV and now has sex onstage. Well, not quite: It's simulated.
But the scene is one of the most talked about in the Tony Award-winning rock musical "Spring Awakening."
"It's weird to, like, fake sex and put your parts up against someone else's," the 21-year-old actor says. "But I figured, 'You know what? I'm going to be naked every night in New York, I might as well get used to it.' "
His role in "Spring Awakening" certainly isn't the first time Parrish has bared his bottom. In the acclaimed Showtime series "Weeds," Parrish not only deals drugs and smokes, but also steals and drops trou as Mary-Louise Parker's oldest son. In real life, though, he's never inhaled.
"I know that if I ever smoked pot I would probably become, like, a total pothead because I think I would like that," he says. "I have, like, a chill personality, so that's why I'm never going to start, because I don't like to be dependent on anything. I don't even drink coffee."
Never say never - to coffee, at least. Taking the stage eight days a week might wear him down. He could find himself addicted to a good French roast, like any other sleep-deprived Broadway actor in need of a caffeine fix.
Parrish stifles a yawn during an interview at a tapas restaurant in downtown Manhattan. It comes out of nowhere, though, since the rest of the time he's a verbal dynamo, leaping animatedly into such eclectic topics as his celebrity crush (actress Amanda Seyfried), aversion to organized religion (he says it's too hypocritical), and decision to wear a black rocker T-shirt instead of a "pretty-boy sweater" to lunch.
The night before, he had officially stepped into his role as rebellious schoolboy Melchior Gabor in "Spring Awakening," an adaptation of Frank Wedekind's classic German drama about sexually repressed teens.
It's a career-defining move for Parrish, a loving son and liberal Christian, who has a surprisingly potent set of pipes. Again, he's playing against his wholesome upbringing.
In a recent episode of "Weeds," now in its fourth season, Parrish stripped down for a graphic sex scene with actress Julie Bowen. It further separates him from the Zac Efrons of the world whose handlers veto material that could possibly alienate the parents of the core tween audience.
Parrish and Efron, the 20-year-old "High School Musical" heartthrob, costar in the upcoming comedy "Seventeen Again," about a middle-age guy who wishes he were 17 again. Parrish might have landed Efron's role in the hugely successful "HSM" franchise, but he skipped his final audition to do a movie instead.
"I would have a very different career right now, and I'm happy where I'm at," he says, grinning widely.