At the 74th annual Theatre World Awards, luminous performers, including this year’s winners — a dozen honored for their New York stage debuts — talked about when they first knew they would be professional performers.

“My father owned a theater when I was growing up, so I never knew a life without the theater,” says Hailey Kilgore, who is one of the winners in 2018 for her role as Ti Moune in Once Upon This Island.

“Around 20, life sort of hit me in the face, and I said I’m going to do something,” says Harry Hadden-Paton, a 2018 winner for portraying Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.

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Hailey Kilgore

Victor Garber

Rodney Hicks

Katy Sullivan

Daphne Rubin-Vega

Noma Dumezweni and Ben Edelman on the press line of the 2018 Theatre World Awards

Lea Salonga

Jamie Brewer

Harry Hadden-Patton

Anita Gillette

Daniel N. Durant

Also, Wesley Taylor, explains how he lost his embarrassment over not being Daniel Day Lewis.