Out of all of Christopher Abbott’s accolades and accomplishments, few can top becoming a parent.
“When you really reflect on it like that, I got to put dad first,” Abbott, 40, said on the Thursday, October 1, episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast when asked about becoming a father, turning 40, earning a Tony Award nomination and watching the New York Knicks win the 2026 NBA championship within the span of a year.
Abbott was up for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play at the June awards ceremony, just weeks before his partner, Aubrey Plaza, gave birth to their first baby.
While Abbott has since been soaking up newborn bliss with the infant, he was also particularly jazzed that the Knicks came out victorious in the NBA Finals after a 53-year playoff drought.
“I’ve been a Knicks fan my whole life, so I’ve been waiting for that the longest,” the East of Eden star quipped, discussing the June basketball championship. “I didn’t necessarily want to be an actor when I was a kid, so I can’t say I’ve been waiting to get nominated for a Tony, and my cynical nature goes, ‘I didn’t win.’ You can’t really celebrate that too hard, can you?”
Abbott also turned 40 months before becoming a dad, celebrating the milestone with a surprise party.
“It was beautiful; it was really sweet because you forget that people like you and they show up,” he recalled of the occasion. “I think it’s human nature, you know what I mean? People get so sort of busy and caught up with their lives and, I know my friends love me, but it’s a weird thing to sort of see them all in one room. You feel like you know, again my brain goes cynical and dark, so you almost feel like it’s a funeral.”
He continued, “It was a living funeral because all these people that you know [are there], but they’re just in a restaurant.”
According to Abbott, this new decade of his life further forced him to reflect on his personal and professional achievements.
“I think by now, at least in my work, I sort of worked long enough and feel like I’ve been around and have met and kept really good friends within the business,” he said. “I feel sort of comfortable with work in terms of, like, it comes and it goes. … I’ve gotten more comfortable with that, but having a kid, [turning] 40, getting older, like the bigger existential things, weigh a little bit more.”
