Andrew Rannells

Andrew Scott Rannells (born August 23, 1978) is an American actor and singer.

In the mid-1990s, he found work with the animation production company DIC Entertainment through an Omaha casting call.

He was subsequently cast in a number of their television productions in main voice roles.

He continued to work in the medium for a number of years while pursuing theater.

He did voice-over work and commercials, including a 1996 Grease spoof with Amy Adams.

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.

Active in community theater, Rannells got his start as a professional actor as a teenager through voice acting.

One of his first theater roles was as the character James in the touring production of Pokémon Live! from September 2000 to August 2001.

Rannells worked with the New York City-based production company 4Kids Entertainment from 2001 to 2004 and did voice acting for several English dubs of anime series such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, in addition to serving as voice director for the dubs of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Sonic X.

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

In 2002, Rannells made his Broadway debut when he assumed the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway production of Hairspray.

He followed this with some regional performances.

He played Bob Gaudio in the First National Tour of Jersey Boys.

Other Broadway credits include Hairspray (2005), Jersey Boys (2009), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014), Hamilton (2015), The Boys in the Band (2018), and Gutenberg! The Musical! (2023).

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.

In the 2010s, he began working as a screen actor; most notably, he starred in the 2012 NBC sitcom The New Normal and played the recurring role of Elijah in HBO's Girls (2012–2017).

He is best known for originating the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

In 2011, 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.

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

One of his most well known roles, he played the recurring role of Elijah on the HBO television series Girls.

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.

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.

He 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.

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.

He received his second Tony nomination in 2017 for his performance as Whizzer in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos.

In 2019, he began starring in Black Monday on Showtime.

He has accumulated numerous voice acting credits since the beginning of his career including, currently, Matthew MacDell on Netflix's Big Mouth and William Clockwell on Amazon Prime's Invincible.

Rannells was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Charlotte and Ronald Rannells.

He is the fourth of five siblings, with three sisters and an older brother.

Rannells attended Our Lady of Lourdes grade school in Omaha, and then Creighton Preparatory School, an all-boys Roman Catholic school in Omaha.

He left the Catholic Church upon graduating as he was sexually abused by a priest at his high school.

His family lived in the Hanscom Park neighborhood in Omaha.

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.

Rannells was 11 when he acted in his first play.

He did community theater with fellow Omahan and Creighton Prep alumnus Conor Oberst.