Chris Messina on Kissing Mindy Kaling and The Mindy Project

Glamour: Did you go to bar mitzvahs when you were a kid and get everybody going with the "YMCA" and "Electric Slide"?

Chris: Ha, no, but I learned early on to try and hide it because it wasn't going over very well where I grew up in Long Island. But then you go to high school and the girls were kind of fascinated by it, but at that point I had kind of stopped.

Glamour: Do you teach your kids now?

Chris: No, but we have dance parties. We put on the music and go crazy! It's so funny to watch the kids dance.

Glamour: Mindy said that Danny Castellano is one third B.J. Novak, one third Chris Messina, and one third made up. Had you heard that before?

Chris: Wow, no!

Glamour: You're finding out about all new stuff today, aren't you? Do you think that's true though? And have you met B.J.?

Chris: Yes, I love B.J.! But I don't know if [Danny] is at all B.J., but maybe I don't know B.J. well enough to know that. I love B.J. He comes on the show sometimes, and I love when he directs here. He's a really good director. I think Danny Castellano is...I don't know.

Glamour: How much of yourself do you see in him?

Chris: Some of it I do. Some not at all.

Glamour: So aside from looking alike, what are the similarities?

Chris: I'm a little bit of a dinosaur with computers and stuff, so we're similar in that way.

Glamour: Can you make gingerbread houses?

Chris: I can't. I wish I could. I don't have much interest in gingerbread houses, except in eating them.

Glamour: Are you sarcastic like him?

Chris: I definitely have rants. We're alike and we're not at all alike. He's a great character. I love playing him, and they write really well for me. Without the writing, I wouldn't know what to do.

Glamour: Our female readers—and me too—would kill me if I didn't ask if you're romantic like we've seen Danny become as well?

Chris: Yeah, I think so. I think I am. I try. And then sometimes, like a lot of guys, I take for granted and forget, and then I wake up and try again. I like the romance, and I like watching romantic stuff, believe it or not. I like romance in films. I like love in films. I love watching people—and I think there's a lot of this in the show, particularly with Mindy and Danny—where people can't connect and they're looking for a connection and they keep missing each other. I really love watching that. If you love the characters enough and you're rooting for them, but they just keep missing each other, that's really fun to participate in as an audience member.