Burtka
David Burtka once spray-painted a giant condom on a camera. He was just a kid, and it was for the first commercial he shot – here in Michigan, where the 34-year-old once lived – that promoted wrapping it up.
Burtka would go on to peddle other products, like Faygo Pop, GAP and Old Navy – for which he danced alongside Morgan Fairchild and RuPaul. And then came his biggest, most unconventional spot … for the army.
"I had to be very secretive about it all," recalls Burtka, who's gay and actor Neil Patrick Harris' partner. On the last night of the 10-day shoot, the director took him out to celebrate at a gentleman's club. He bought Burtka a lap dance.
The commercial involved a day of boot camp training, but as horrible as he recalls it being, it prepared him, years later, for a short internship at Mario Batali's New York restaurant, Babbo.
"I'm gonna be a kitchen bitch," he tells us before beginning work at Babbo. "
It's crazy for me. I'm going to big events, and Tony Award parties (with Harris) and people are taking care of us, and then I get back and I'm told how big a piece of dog shit I am and how I need to scrub that pot more. It's such a wild contrast in my life right now."
A contrast that seems to be working just fine, as his relationship with Harris is in its fifth year, and he's pursuing a long-loved pastime – cooking – that he gravitated toward while attending the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, where he would whip up meals for pals.
"I made it a challenge for me," he says. "I'd see a recipe in a magazine or book and be like, 'I'm going to conquer that.'" His fervor for preparing food grew, and he and Harris – living in L.A. – maintained a long-distance relationship while Burtka went off to cook for a big New York family, who he "bullshitted (into thinking) that I'm an amazing chef."
That ended when, earlier this summer, his mom's health suddenly declined, as she underwent treatment for leukemia and then eventually succumbed to pneumonia. "It was done," he says. "Twenty days she was in the hospital, and then she was gone."
With Harris by his side, they rushed back home to Canton, where he grew up, and attended her memorial service. It put his life in perspective: "I'm not going to be living in New York City by myself, away from Neil. That's just too hard."
Burtka calls himself a "theater geek" when he recalls attending Salem High School in Canton, where he landed lead roles in many of the school's productions. His older sister was cool – a homecoming queen and popular sports player – so that helped him gain notoriety among his peers, whom he'd spend time with at "The Pit," an outside area for the in-crowd that was constantly patrolled by school security.
He studied musical theater and dance over three summers at Interlochen Center for the Arts, and then graduated from Salem in 1993. After earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts from U-M in 1997, he left for New York City.
"I was a small fish in a big pond," he says, but in 2003, he nabbed the role as Tulsa in Broadway's "Gypsy" alongside Bernadette Peters – "a very quiet and guarded person," he says.
"I've found in the past with other celebrities," he continues, "that tends to be the case. Neil's a very private and guarded person, too, when it comes down to it. He doesn't really give out a lot, whereas my life is an open book. I'll tell you anything."
Burtka met Harris (who wasn't doing any press at the time of this interview, according to Burtka) through a mutual female thespian friend while he was performing in "Gypsy" and Harris was doing "Cabaret." Smitten with Burtka, Harris didn't think he had a chance: He thought Burtka was her boyfriend. Little did he know, he was barking up the right tree.
Burtka was familiar with Harris' work on "Doogie Howser, M.D.," but admits to only catching one episode: "He liked that, because there are a lot of people who want to date him just so they can say, 'I'm dating Neil Patrick Harris.'"
A few months ago, rumors circulated that the couple were fielding surrogates to start a family. Harris' rep debunked the gossip, but Burtka doesn't deny that it could happen. Just not right now.
"Maybe some day," says Burtka, who had twins during his first relationship. He raised them until they were 3-and-a-half, and "that was one of the best thing I've ever done."
Together, they've worked on other endeavors, like three episodes of Harris' hit CBS show "How I Met Your Mother" and a performance during Broadway Backwards 3, a gender-bending concert of show-tune favorites benefiting the New York City LGBT Community Center.
"I enjoy working with him," Burtka says. "I think it's the beginning of some really great, fun work together."
Even without Harris, he's nabbed numerous TV roles – some for made-for-television movies, one as a regular in Steven Spielberg's failed Fox show "On the Lot" and guest spots on shows like "Crossing Jordan" and "The West Wing." When the couple moved from N.Y.C. to L.A., where Harris shoots "Mother," finding solid acting roles was a crapshoot.
"There was this one thing that my agent wanted me to test for, a pilot about a bunch of young kids growing up after college, and blah blah blah," he recalls. "It was written so badly, and they wanted me to sign a contact for six years, and I couldn't do it."
Frustrated, he headed back to school – Le Cordon Bleu, the same culinary school Julia Child graduated from – and then recently scored the Babbo gig. "I feel like I'm really confident (about working for Batali)," he says, "but I'm sure I'm gonna get my confidence kicked out of me."
Even with all that boot camp?
