Cheyenne Jackson

Cheyenne David Jackson is an American actor and singer.

His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings.

Jackson was born to David and Sherri Jackson, and was named by his father after the 1950s Western series Cheyenne.

The third of four children, he was raised in Oldtown, Idaho, a "teeny mill town" in a rural area in northern Idaho near the Washington border.

His father was a Vietnam veteran.

His mother taught Jackson, his sister, and his two brothers to sing and regularly played music by Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley at home.

Throughout his childhood, Jackson lived with his family in a rural home that had an outhouse and no running water.

He moved to Spokane as a teenager.

In Seattle, Jackson worked as an ad executive at a magazine and did some theater work on the side, earning his Equity card.

Xanadu had several Tony Award nominations including "Best New Musical" for which Jackson and the cast performed on the 62nd Tony Awards show.

He moved to New York City after 2001 to pursue an acting career.

In regional theaters, Jackson has appeared as Tony in West Side Story, as Joey in The Most Happy Fella, as Cain in Children of Eden, as Berger in Hair, as Billy Bigelow in Carousel, as Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, as Rocky in The Rocky Horror Show, and as The Poet in Kismet, among many other productions.

Jackson made his Broadway debut understudying both male leads in the Tony Award-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.

He later served as the standby for the character of Radames in Aida, then originated the role of Matthew in the NYMF production of Altar Boyz.

After beginning his acting career in regional theatre in Seattle, Washington, Jackson moved to Manhattan and was an understudy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002) and Aida (2003).

He next originated the role of Matthew in the workshop production of Altar Boyz (2004) for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and was replaced by Scott Porter for the Off-Broadway run.

Jackson's first leading role on Broadway was in All Shook Up (2005), which earned him a Theatre World Award for "Outstanding Broadway Debut".

In 2005, he originated his first Broadway leading role in the musical All Shook Up, a tribute to Elvis Presley.

His performance as Chad earned him the Theatre World Award and nominations from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor.

Since then, on the New York stage, he has starred in The Agony & the Agony (2006), Xanadu (2007; Drama League, Drama Desk nominations), Damn Yankees (2008), Finian's Rainbow (2010; Drama Desk nomination), 8 (2011), The Heart of the Matter (2012), The Performers (2013), The Secret Garden (2016), Into the Woods (2022), and Once Upon a Mattress (2024).

He has also appeared in a number of films, including the 2006 Academy Award-nominated United 93, in which his portrayal of Mark Bingham earned him the Boston Society of Film Critics 2006 award for Best Ensemble Cast.

In 2006, Jackson starred off-Broadway in playwright Nicky Silver's The Agony and The Agony with Victoria Clark.

In June 2007, less than a week before the scheduled opening night, Jackson assumed the lead role of Sonny on Broadway in Xanadu, replacing James Carpinello who had been injured during rehearsal.

Previous workshop productions of the musical starred Jackson and Jane Krakowski.

However, both Jackson and Krakowski opted out of the initial Broadway run, citing schedule conflicts.

His performance as Sonny earned him nominations from the Drama League and Drama Desk for Outstanding Lead Actor.

In addition to his Broadway cast albums, he has released three albums of popular music, including a joint album called The Power of Two with Michael Feinstein in 2008.

In 2008, Jackson joined Jane Krakowski and Sean Hayes in the New York City Center's Encores! production of Damn Yankees.

He returned to Encores!

in 2009, playing Woody Mahoney in a staged concert of Finian's Rainbow.

Jackson also starred in the development workshop of The Book of Mormon by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the music for Avenue Q.

In October 2009, Jackson opened on Broadway reprising the role of Woody Mahoney in the revival of the 1947 musical Finian's Rainbow at the St. James Theatre, costarring with Jim Norton and Kate Baldwin.

In concert, Jackson has sold out Carnegie Hall twice: The Power of Two in 2010 and Music of the Mad Men Era in 2011.

He also performs in cabarets.

In 2012, Jackson released two singles, "Drive" and "Before You", from his 2013 album I'm Blue, Skies.

He also had a leading role in the 2014 independent romantic comedy ensemble, Mutual Friends, and guest roles in television series such as NBC's 30 Rock and Fox's Glee.

Beginning in 2015, Jackson starred in the FX horror anthology television series American Horror Story in its fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons.

In 2016, Jackson released his third studio album, Renaissance, an album adapted and expanded from his solo concert Music of the Mad Men Era.

He also stars as Hades in Disney Channel's Descendants 3.

In 2020, he reunited with Descendants alumni Kenny Ortega and Booboo Stewart in Netflix's Julie and the Phantoms.