Brandon Voss is a mighty busy man – and a lucky man. He’s been interviewing some of my favorite stars lately for Advocate.com including Chandra Wilson, one of the most talented stars of Grey’s Anatomy.

Chandra is set to play Mama Morton in Chicago from June 8 to July 5 at Broadway’s Ambassador Theatre. Here are a few questions from Brandon’s interview:

A lot of people might not know that you were an accomplished stage actor in New York before Grey’s. What’s your most memorable theatrical experience?
Probably my first. I did The Good Times Are Killing Me back in 1991 at the Second Stage Theatre, and then we moved it down to the Minetta Lane. That was my big introduction to New York theater, and that year I won a Theater World Award [given for debut performances] — and I didn’t even know what a Theater World Award was. All of a sudden, there was [award cofounder] John Willis, who became a permanent part of my life and sends me a birthday card every year. I got to know what that little club is about and how you really only have one opportunity to get in, so that’s the one that always sticks with me.

How did it feel to help catapult the word “va-jay-jay” into mainstream speech with your line “Stop looking at my va-jay-jay!” during Bailey’s childbirth scene?
It was just one of those amazing things. We got that script cold at the table read. I kind of looked ahead and saw that word, and I just thought, Well, there’s nothing I can do but just drop it. So I read it, dropped it, and we all fell out laughing for a good five minutes. Who knew that it was going to turn into what it did?

Ever since the infamous Isaiah Washington altercation, there always seems to be some sort of controversy swirling behind the scenes of Grey’s. How do you deal with the negative media attention and also manage to stay out of it?
We learned a long time ago to stop asking each other about things based on what we’ve read, because it’s generally not what’s really going on. We’ve learned to trust what we know: the truths that are right there at work within the cast and crew. So we do a lot of ignoring; otherwise, we’d go crazy trying to justify and dispute what’s usually just inflamed stories. But everyone has his or her turn dealing with it, so I’m sure someone’s going to dig up something on me sooner or later.

Finally, what are your thoughts on California’s recent decision to uphold Prop. 8?
I find it so hard to believe that it passed because it’s California, supposedly one of the most progressive states we have. It seems to go against everything California stands for, but I guess you can’t get caught up thinking about big cities like Los Angeles and forget about the rest of the state. It’s confusing to me on all levels, and for about five minutes it makes you want to be a politician so you can do something about it. I have quite a few gay couples and gay couples with children in my life. It’s such an interesting issue for me because as a Christian you’re told to believe certain things, but I can’t get past my gut and my eyes, and I can’t get past my gay friends that have more love than some heterosexual couples that I know.

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