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Danny Burstein arrives at his dressing room at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at least an hour and a half before show time. Although he was nominated earlier this year for a Tony for his portrayal of Luther Billis in Rogers and Hammerstein’s 1949 musical South Pacific, the Queens born actor remains determined to improve with each and every performance.

A photograph of a younger Burstein playing Billis in a summer stock production is posted to the dressing room mirror. His alma mater, the High School of Performing Arts, is down the block. The show, the venue, the role – they’re all very much a part of Burstein’s identity as an artist.

Burstein was born in Flushing and attended the neighborhood’s Parsons Junior High School. A teacher there encouraged him to audition for a spot in the freshman class of the High School of Performing Arts.

“I got that [acceptance] letter and it sort of changed my life,” Burstein said.

His theater education continued at Queens College, the University of California at San Diego, and then at the St. Louis Muny Opera, the largest outdoor theater in the country.

The road to Broadway was lined with teachers and directors who saw great potential in Burstein. Now, one Outer Critics Circle Award and two Tony Award nominations later, Burstein said his greatest challenge as a performer comes from remembering to listen to the other actors on stage.

“The audience has never seen the show before,” he said. “You have to make it new for them.”

In South Pacific, Burstein speaks in a gruff voice, significantly lower than his own. His performance is wildly entertaining; the jokes kill and the exaggerated physicality of the character is appropriately cartoonish. Still, Burstein isn’t just a ham in this production. As Billis, he must deliver essential plot points and he does so with elegant subtlety.

“The whole audition part was hellish,” he said. “It took the better part of a year.”

Rogers and Hammerstein’s children attended rehearsals and offered the performers direction.

“We got a lot of leeway on this production,” Burstein said. “They were smart enough to know that a piece of art is not a static thing. It’s a living, breathing thing.”

Burstein’s interpretation of his character is evolving as well.

“I hope to make it deeper and more truthful,” he said.

Burstein has left his mark on roles in such major works as The Seagull and Company. But he also relishes the opportunity to originate a role.

“I always like doing new works,” Burstein said. “That next, great role has yet to be written.”

And perhaps he thinks the next, great thespian has yet to be discovered; Burstein has taught at Queens College and lectures frequently through Inside Broadway, a nonprofit educational organization.

“It’s a living,” he said.

And it’s a living that doesn’t take him too far from his hometown of Flushing.