Andrew Rannells

Rannells was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Charlotte and Ronald Rannells.[1] He is the fourth of five siblings, with three sisters and an older brother.[1][2] His ancestry is Polish and Irish.[3]

Rannells attended Our Lady of Lourdes grade school in Omaha, and then Creighton Preparatory School,[1] an all-boys Roman Catholic school in Omaha.[2][4] His family lived in the Hanscom Park neighborhood in Omaha.[1]

As a child, he took classes at the Emmy Gifford Children's Theater and performed at the Omaha Community Playhouse and the Firehouse Dinner Theatre and the Dundee Dinner Theatre.[1][5]

Rannells was 11 when he acted in his first play. He did community theater with fellow Omahan and Creighton Prep alumnus Conor Oberst.[6] He did voice-over work and commercials, including a 1996 Grease spoof with Amy Adams.[2]

Rannells moved to New York City in 1997 after high school, studying theater at Marymount Manhattan College for two years before he started auditioning full-time and began landing roles.[7]

Rannells played the character James in Pokémon Live! from September 2000 to August 2001. When asked about his experience in 2014, he jokingly said that he would have rather starred in a porn film or snuff film instead and that he only took the job for the pay.[8][9]

Rannells worked with the New York City animation production company 4Kids Entertainment from 2001 to 2004. He also directed a small number of video games, "Kirby" and "Sonic the Hedgehog".[1]

As a voice actor, Rannells appeared in several 4Kids and DiC television programs and video games, such as Yu-Gi-Oh!.[6]

Before winning his first Broadway role, Rannells had parts in a number of regional theater productions, including Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Miss Saigon, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.[10]

For his turn as Hedwig at the Zachary Scott Theater Center in Austin, Texas, in 2002,[11] he won best actor in a musical at the B. Iden Payne Awards in September 2002, which honor outstanding achievements in Austin theater.[12]

In 2002, Rannells earned the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway production of Hairspray.[13] This was his first Broadway show. Rannells followed this with some regional performances.[2]

Rannells in 2009

Rannells played Bob Gaudio in the First National Tour of Jersey Boys. His last performance with the tour was on December 6, 2008, in Toronto. In January 2009, he reprised the role of Gaudio in the musical's Broadway production.[14]

Rannells originated the role of Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, a musical written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez. For his performance, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for his performance in the musical's Original Broadway Cast Recording. His last performance was June 10, 2012.[15]

Rannells played a stripper in the 2012 film Bachelorette[16] and played a lead character, Bryan Collins, in the 2012–13 television series The New Normal.[17][18]

Rannells played the recurring role of Elijah on the HBO television series Girls.[19]

Rannells temporarily replaced Jonathan Groff in the role of King George III in Hamilton on Broadway from October 27 to November 29, 2015, while Groff fulfilled pre-arranged filming commitments.[20]

Rannells played the role of "Whizzer Brown" in the Broadway revival of Falsettos directed by James Lapine. He was joined by Christian Borle and Stephanie J. Block who played Marvin and Trina, respectively.[21] The musical ran from October 27, 2016 (with previews beginning September 29), to January 8, 2017.[22][23] He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance.[24]

Rannells played Larry in the 2018 Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band. It was a limited run, in honor of the play's 50th anniversary. It won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. He revived his role (along with the rest of the revival cast) for the film adaptation for Netflix, which was released on September 30, 2020.

Rannells currently plays Blair Pfaff, one of the leading roles on the television show Black Monday. The show premiered on January 20, 2019, on Showtime. In April 2019, the series was renewed for a second season that premiered on March 15, 2020. In October 2020, the series was renewed for a third season which is set to premiere in 2021.[25]

Rannells published his first book, a memoir titled Too Much Is Not Enough, in 2019. It is a series of essays about his childhood in Omaha, Nebraska, and his years spent in New York leading up to his 2005 Broadway debut in Hairspray.[26]

Rannells played Trent Oliver in Netflix's 2020 movie musical The Prom, an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name.[27]

Rannells is openly gay.[28] Rannells has said he has known he is gay since high school.[2] He came out to his family when he was eighteen, and by then they had already figured it out.[29] He also came out to his theater friends, but not his all-boys Catholic school.[2]

Since 2019, he has been in a relationship with actor Tuc Watkins.[30] They met while both were in the cast of The Boys in the Band for its 50th anniversary Broadway show in 2018.[31] They also worked together on Black Monday and reprised their roles for Netflix's film version of TBITB (2020).[31]

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of self-identified LGBTQ New Yorkers

• Andrew Rannells at IMDb
• Andrew Rannells at the Internet Broadway Database
• Andrew Rannells at Voice Chasers