Born Joseph Lane to Irish Catholic parents - a Jersey City officer & his lady of a house lady of the house; the actor attended Catholic schools in Jersey City.

He changed his title to Nathan fallowing a character Nathan Detroit from either a musical Guys and Dolls, in the revival of which he appeared using Peter Gallagher and Faith Prince.

Between finding college or even pursuing his acting career, Lane chose to last by owning a latter, saying that college was for humans world health organization didn't understand what it wanted to run, piece he did. He moved to Future York City in which, when an extended struggle, his career began in Broadway, most notably in the number 1 production of Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth Apart. His number 1 big film role was supplying a voice of Timon around Disney's The Lion King. Fallowing spending very much of a Nineties working in film, which involved the popular film The Birdcage, Lane returned to the Great White Way in the hit musical comedy The Producers. He is openly gay, & was criticized by the select few gay militant for ingesting a role of a promiscuous heterosexual in the short-lived TV series Encore! Encore!, which also starred Glenne Headley and Dame Joan Plowright. He dismissed these critics when "old queens".

Inside 2004, Mr. Lane revised a book for & asterisked inside Stephen Sondheim's musical adaptation of Aristophanes' The Frogs at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center. A production likewise starred Roger Bart, Peter Bartlett, John Byner, Burke Moses, and Michael Siberry. Lane's number one connection by owning the indicate come whilst he performed a leading role of Dionysos inside a concert staging within honor of Sondheim's birthday. A concert was recorded in Apotheosis, & involved Brian Stokes Mitchell and Davis Gaines. A 2004 production of the indicate contained Heptad extra songs, & was recorded by PS Classics.

Inside October 2004 Lane assumed a lead role of 'Max Bialystock' in the London stage production of Mel Brooks' The Producers. He experienced already played a role in a period of the indicate's Up to date York rerun, & was the previous-microscopic replacement for Richard Dreyfuss, who experienced dropped away from a London begin in the period of rehearsals, citing back problems. Lane himself was forced to retire within December 2004 for the equivalent cause. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/90336.html] a play was a commercial profits, & for his decade-week do Lane was paid £400,000; around Februrary 2005 he won the Olivier Award for Right Actor inside the Musical theater comedy (the indicate itself besides winning Best Future Musical, by having Conleth Hill winning Supporting Role within a Musical for his performance when "Roger DeBris" (played by Christopher Hewett in a movie version) the "flamboyant" director world health organization must play Adolf Hitler in the musical number "Springtime for Hitler". [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4484-1493809,00.html]