Andy Karl

Andy Karl (born August 28, 1974 as Andrew Karl Cesewski ) is an American actor and singer, best known for performing in musical theatre.

Karl was born on August 28, 1974 in Baltimore, Maryland to Walter Cesewski and Susan Weisman.

He attended Towson High School, where he was on the football team and performed in theater.

In high school, he played Jud Fry in Oklahoma! and General Bullmoose in Li'l Abner.

At age 16 he performed as the title role in Aladdin at the White Marsh Dinner Theatre.

After high school, he attended Towson University, where he studied voice and music.

Karl originally planned on becoming a voice teacher until the director of a show he was in at college told him he had what it took to be a professional actor.

Karl continued to perform in shows while in college.

He changed his name to Karl to honor his late great-grandfather, Andrew Karl, a Baltimore fireman.

In Winter 1993–1994, he played the 9-foot dragon in the children's musical The Reluctant Dragon at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, Maryland.

Karl moved to New York in 1994.

He was an understudy in the touring cast of The Who's Tommy and in 1998 played Rum Tum Tugger in the touring cast of Cats.

In February 2000 Karl was an understudy in the New York premiere of Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night at the Second Stage Theatre.

He made his Broadway debut in 2000 as the replacement for Joey in Saturday Night Fever.

He continued with the production, this time in the role of Tony Manero, in its first national tour.

In 2001 he performed in the musical stage production Me and Mrs. Jones at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia.

Karl was next seen as Dino Del Canto in the world premiere of the musical Romeo and Bernadette at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, Florida.

The show, which ran in January 2003, garnered Karl a Carbonell Award for Best Actor in a musical.

He reprised the role at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey in February and March, 2003.

Karl was also seen at the Paper Mill Playhouse in June and July of that year, when he performed as Danny Zuko in Grease.

In January 2004 he performed in the musical revue Nights on Broadway II at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In September 2004, Karl played Luke in the premiere of Altar Boyz at the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

He then left the New York area to tour in the original company of Disney's On the Record.

Karl returned to New York to play Luke in the Off-Broadway production of Altar Boyz, which opened on March 1, 2005 at Stage 4 of Dodger Stages (now New World Stages).

On September 26, 2005, Karl performed in the Actor's Fund Concert production of On the Twentieth Century.

Karl's next role was the title character Adam Patterson in the Off-Broadway musical Slut at the American Theatre of Actors in Fall 2005.

In January 2006 Karl was in the three-person cast of Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love, a celebration of the music of Elvis Presley, at the now-closed Au Bar.

In June and July of that year, he starred as Tad in the musical Bright Lights, Big City at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia.

He then joined the Broadway cast of The Wedding Singer at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where he played the roles of Drunk Dave and Bad Haircut Guy until the show closed at the end of 2006.

Karl's next role was in Legally Blonde, where he played Kyle "the UPS guy", Dewey, and Grandmaster Chad at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, where the musical had its pre-Broadway tryout from January 23 to February 24, 2007.

He reprised his roles in the Broadway production, which started previews on April 3 and opened on April 29, 2007 at the Palace Theatre.

He was also an understudy to Emmett and Professor Callahan.

Karl briefly left Legally Blonde in June 2007 to work on 9 to 5 in its week-long workshop.

After leaving Legally Blonde, Karl continued working on the musical 9 to 5.

He played Joe, the love interest of Allison Janney's character, in the pre-Broadway tryout in Los Angeles.

He left the show on July 20, 2008.

The show played at the Ahmanson Theatre from September 3 to October 19, 2008.

The show opened on Broadway on April 30, 2009 at the Marquis Theatre, and closed on September 6, 2009.

He appeared in the original productions of the musical version of Groundhog Day (for which he won the Olivier Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award), Legally Blonde, 9 to 5, Rocky the Musical and Pretty Woman: The Musical, as well as appearing in Wicked (in which he played Fiyero in 2010), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Jersey Boys, On The Twentieth Century (for which he won the Outer Critics Circle Award), And So It Goes, and Into the Woods (in which he played both Princes and the Wolf in 2022).

Karl has won a Laurence Olivier Award and earned three Tony Award nominations for his work.