Christian Borle

Christian Borle

Borle at the 2014 MontClair Film Festival
Born Christian D. Borle
October 1, 1973
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Occupation stage, television actor, singer, dancer
Years active 1987–Present
Spouse(s) Sutton Foster (2006–2010)

Christian Borle (born October 1, 1973)[1] is an American actor featured in several Broadway productions. He starred as Tom Levitt on the NBC musical-drama series Smash.

Early life

Borle was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of a Swiss father who was a professor of physiology at the University of Pittsburgh.[2] His love for Star Wars and drawing made him want to become a comic book artist when he grew up, but it was only when a friend convinced him to audition for a school play in his sophomore year that he began to develop an interest in acting.[3]

He attended St. Edmund's Academy in Pittsburgh, where he played Scrooge in a 1987 production of Dickens's A Christmas Carol, but graduated from Shady Side Academy. He went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University before moving to New York in September 1995.

Career

Borle made his Broadway debut in 1998, understudying the role of Willard in the stage adaptation of the film Footloose. He was featured in the 2000 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, and was the dance captain and understudy of several characters for the short-lived 2002 musical Amour.

In 2003 he replaced Gavin Creel in the role of Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie. He married his co-star, actress Sutton Foster, who had played Millie, in September 2006.[4][5][6] On a radio interview in 2010 it was confirmed that Christian and Sutton had separated.[7]

Borle performed Monty Python's Spamalot, in which he originated a number of roles, including Prince Herbert and the Historian. His performance earned him a 2005 Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and a Broadway.com Audience Award as Favorite Featured Actor in a Musical. He is best known on Broadway, however, for originating Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. The musical is based on MGM's 2001 film of the same name.[8]

He was featured in the Encores! staged concert version of On the Town as Ozzie, running in November 2008.[9] He appeared in a workshop production of a new play titled Peter and the Starcatcher in 2009.[10] He played Bert in the Broadway production of Mary Poppins, replacing Adam Fiorentino in the role on October 12, 2009[11] and then left the cast July 15, 2010.

In 2010, he appeared in The Bounty Hunter, in which he played a golf caddy. In Fall 2010/Winter 2011, Borle played the role of Prior Walter in Signature Theatre Company's 20th anniversary production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America.[12]

On February 25, 2011, it was announced that Borle had joined Steven Spielberg's new NBC pilot Smash with Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston, Katharine McPhee, Brian d'Arcy James, and Megan Hilty. The series follows a cross section of characters who come together to mount a Marilyn Monroe-themed musical (which is called Bombshell) on Broadway.[13] In May 2011, it was reported that NBC had picked up the show as a series for the 2011–2012 season.[14] In March 2012, NBC announced it would renew the series for a second season with 15 episodes.[15]

Borle was a member of the original cast in the Regional and Off-Broadway productions of Peter and the Starcatcher that ran until April 24, 2011.[16] He reprised the role of Black Stache on Broadway in April 2012, where his performance earned him his second Tony Award nomination and first win as Best Featured Actor in a Play.[17] He ended his run in the Broadway production of Peter and the Starcatcher on June 30, 2012, to take a break before taping for Smash began in August 2012.

Borle played Max Dettweiler in The Sound of Music Live!, which aired on December 5, 2013.[18][19] He also played Mr. Darling and Mr. Smee in Peter Pan Live!, which aired on December 4, 2014.[20]

In 2015 he was nominated for another Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for Something Rotten!,[21] which opened in previews at the St. James Theatre on March 23, 2015, and an official opening in April.[22]

Personal

Borle started dating actress Sutton Foster in college,[23] and married her on September 18, 2006. During a radio interview in 2010, it was confirmed that they had gone their separate ways.[7][24] Foster and Borle still remain good friends[25] and continue to support each other's work.[26][27]

Borle also briefly dated Legally Blonde co-star Laura Bell Bundy.

Theatre credits

Year Production Location/Category Role
2015 Something Rotten! Broadway William Shakespeare (Original Broadway Cast)
2012 Peter and the Starcatcher Broadway Black Stache (Original Broadway Cast)
2011 Off-Broadway Black Stache
2010 Angels in America Off-Broadway Prior Walter
2009 Peter and the Starcatcher Regional Black Stache
Mary Poppins Broadway Bert (Replacement)
2008 On the Town Concert Ozzie
2007 Legally Blonde Broadway Emmett Forrest (Original Broadway Cast)
2005 The Flamingo Kid Workshop Performer
Spamalot Broadway Historian / Not Dead Fred / French Guard / Minstrel / Prince Herbert (Original Broadway Cast)
2004 Snoopy! The Musical Concert Snoopy
Time After Time Reading H.G. Wells
2003 Elegies: A Song Cycle Off-Broadway Original Performer
2002 Amour Broadway Dance Captain, Advocate (Understudy) / Bertrand (Understudy) / Dusoleil (Understudy) / Newsvendor (Understudy) / Painter (Understudy)
Thoroughly Modern Millie Broadway Jimmy Smith (Replacement)
Prodigal Off-Broadway Kane Flannery / Zach Marshall (Original Cast)
2001 The Baby and Johnny Project Off-Broadway Billy Kostecki
Just So Regional Kangaroo / Cooking Stove / Bushbuck
The 3 Musketeers, One Musical For All Regional Planchet (Original American Cast)
2000 Jesus Christ Superstar Broadway Apostle
1998 Footloose Broadway Willard Hewitt (Replacement)
1997/98 West Side Story National Tour Riff
1995 The Who's Tommy Offenbach, Germany Pinball Lad 1

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated Work Result
2015 Tony Award Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Something Rotten! Nominated
2011/12 Tony Award Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Peter and the Starcatcher Won
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Nominated
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Nominated
Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding Lead Actor Won
Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards Favorite Funny Performance Won
BroadwayWorld.com Theater Awards Best Featured Actor in a Play Won
2011 Tina Award Best Actor (Play) Peter and the Starcatcher
Angels in America
Nominated
Tina Award Best Ensemble (Play) Angels in America Won
Tina Award Best Stage Duo (shared with Zachary Quinto) Won
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Nominated
2010 Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards Best Replacement Mary Poppins Nominated
2007 Tony Award Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Legally Blonde Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Nominated
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Nominated
2005 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Spamalot Nominated
Clarence Derwent Award Most Promising Male Won
Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards Favorite Featured Actor in a Broadway Musical Won
Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards Favorite Onstage Pair (shared with Hank Azaria) Won

References

  1. U.S. Public Records Index, Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
  2. "With NBC's 'Smash,' Christian Borle has arrived - SFGate". sfgate.com. Retrieved 2014-11-06.
  3. "You Just Can't Forget About the Boy!". Columbia Scholastic Press Association. 2004-01-16. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  4. Jones, Kenneth. "Gimme Jimmy: Christian Borle Is New Juvenile Lead in Bway's Millie April 29", playbill.com, April 29, 2003; "Off-stage, it's known in the theatre community that Christian is romantically linked to Millie herself, Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster."
  5. "Broadway's Sutton Foster & Christian Borle Engaged" April 2006
  6. Smith, Liz. "IN NEW YORK", Daily Variety, September 19, 2006, p. 4 wrote: "BROADWAY BABY Sutton Foster, whose most recent triumph is "The Drowsy Chaperone (five Tony wins and a nomination for Sutton), was wide awake Monday when she wed longtime boyfriend Christian Borle of "Spamalot" fame. The couple met and worked together on Sutton's first smash, Thoroughly Modern Millie, which brought her the theater's highest honor. Sutton and Christian recently bought their first home. In fact, the deal was closed the day "Drowsy" opened."
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Mary Poppins" stars Christian Borle and Laura Michelle Kelly playbillradio.com
  8. "Star File" Broadway.com
  9. Gans, Andrew."A Helluva Town: Encores! Launches New Season with On the Town", playbill.com, November 19, 2008
  10. Jones, Kenneth. "Peter Pan Is Back! Starcatchers Workshop, With Borle, Elrod, Green, Begins in CA", playbill.com, February 13, 2009
  11. "Laura Michelle Kelly and Christian Borle to Sweep Into Mary Poppins Oct. 12", playbill.com, October 12, 2009
  12. "Signature Theatre Company: Announcing the Cast of ANGELS IN AMERICA". Signaturetheatre.blogspot.com. 2010-06-22. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  13. "Christian Borle Joins SMASH!". Broadwayworld.com. 2011-02-25. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  14. May 11, 2011: "NBC Picks Up Whitney Cummings & Emily Spivey Pilots, 'Smash' & 'Prime Suspect'" deadline.com
  15. "NBC's ‘Smash’ Renewed For Second Season", Deadline.com. March 22, 2012
  16. "BWW TV: Finding the Characters in PETER AND THE STARCATCHER!". broadwayworld.com. February 25, 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  17. Hetrick, Adam. "'Peter and the Starcatcher' Lands on Broadway March 28" playbill.com, March 28, 2012
  18. Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti and Christian Borle Join Cast of NBC's Sound of Music Playbill, Retrieved September 16, 2013
  19. 'Sound of Music Live!' with Carrie Underwood: NBC announces more cast, releases poster Entertainment Weekly, Retrieved September 16, 2013
  20. "UPDATE: Neil Meron Confirms Christian Borle Casting for NBC's PETER PAN!". Broadway World. August 7, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  21. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tony-awards-nominations-announced-791965?utm_source=twitter
  22. Hetrick, Adam. " 'Something Rotten!' Puts a Shakespearean Twist On Broadway Musical Comedy, Starting Tonight" playbill.com, March 23, 2015
  23. "Broadway Buzz: Sutton Foster broadway.com
  24. Lee, LUAINE. "With NBC's 'Smash,' Christian Borle has arrived" kansascity.com, February 20, 2012
  25. "Sutton Foster Previews Her New ABC Family Show BUNHEADS". We Love Soaps. May 31, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
  26. "Christian Borle on the Thrill of Jumping from Smash to Peter and the Starcatcher". broadwayworld.com. April 9, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  27. "Q&A: Christian Borle". timeout.com. April 11, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-02.

External links