Christopher Abbott was working on Girls when he took a job at a friend’s Italian-ice business in Rockaway. In his new Happy Sad Confused interview with Josh Horowitz, the actor explains that he was trying to work out whether acting was the life he wanted—not simply looking for another paycheck.
The October 1 conversation revisits the early jobs behind his television career, including the period when he was filming HBO’s comedy while performing on Broadway at night. Abbott describes doubts that returned at different points, rather than one announcement that he was leaving the profession.
The Italian-ice job was not just about money
Horowitz asks why Abbott was working another job while appearing on Girls. Abbott places the Italian-ice work around the second season and says money was not the main reason. He was trying to get in touch with a different kind of working life and reconsidering what he wanted to do.
He describes the doubt plainly:
“I sort of felt like I wanted to quit acting.”
The exchange makes a distinction that can get lost when an actor talks about a difficult period. Considering leaving acting is not the same as leaving it. Abbott is remembering uncertainty while he was already getting recognizable work, not describing a completed retirement followed by a comeback.
The conversation also separates his discomfort with a long television commitment from his interest in performing. Wanting freedom to take another job could mean another acting role, not necessarily a permanent departure from the profession.
Girls overlapped with a Broadway play
Abbott’s account of his first Girls season includes filming during the day and performing The House of Blue Leaves at night. The 2011 Broadway revival cast him as Ronnie Shaughnessy, alongside Ben Stiller, Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh. David Cromer directed the production of John Guare’s play at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
The production began previews on April 4, officially opened on April 25 and closed on June 25. Stiller played Artie, Falco played Bananas and Leigh played Bunny. Abbott was taking part in an ensemble stage production, with scheduled live performances, at the same time television was putting him in front of a new audience.
That schedule gives some context to the Italian-ice recollection. His doubts did not arrive because there was nothing to do. He had already experienced the practical demands of two acting jobs and was asking himself what he wanted beyond the next commitment.
He is still working across television and theater
This year, Abbott was nominated for a Tony Award for featured actor in a play for Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. That later stage work sits alongside the television and film roles that followed Girls, rather than replacing one kind of performance with another.
His latest television role is Adam Trask in East of Eden, Netflix’s seven-episode adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel. Florence Pugh plays Cathy Ames, and Mike Faist plays Adam’s brother Charles. The family story follows their choices across decades and two generations, with the Salinas Valley as its setting.
Who’s who in Abbott’s new series
Zoe Kazan wrote and executive-produced all seven episodes. Her grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film adaptation, but the series covers a broader span of the novel. Garth Davis directs the first four episodes, with Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre directing the final three.
All seven episodes are now streaming on Netflix globally. For viewers meeting Abbott through Adam Trask, the Horowitz interview offers a different introduction: an actor looking back at the uncertainty that existed while his career was already moving forward.
