Ramin Karimloo

Ramin Karimloo (born September 19, 1978 ) is a Canadian actor, singer and songwriter recognized for his work in London's West End and New York's Broadway theatre.

He has played the leading male roles in both of the West End's longest running musicals: The Phantom and Raoul de Chagny in The Phantom of the Opera, as well as Jean Valjean, Enjolras, and Marius Pontmercy in Les Misérables.

He also originated the leading roles of Gleb Vaganov in Anastasia, Nick Arnstein in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, and The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, which continues the story of Phantom.

He is also known for his many portrayals of Anatoly Sergievsky in the musical Chess.

He joined the UK national tour of The Pirates of Penzance playing the role of a police officer, as well as understudying the Pirate King in 2001.

In 2002 he took the role of the Pirate King in Bath, England.

During this year Karimloo joined the national tour of Sunset Boulevard, playing Artie Green and covering the role of Joe Gillis.

Karimloo made his West End debut in Les Miserables where he played Feuilly and understudied the roles of Marius Pontmercy and Enjolras.

In 2003, Karimloo took on the role of Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny and three years later was the standby for the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera.

His final matinee performance as Raoul was filmed for use on a behind-the-scenes feature on the DVD of Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of the musical, in which he also appeared in a cameo role as Gustave Daaé.

Karimloo appeared in two concerts: one of Les Misérables, as Marius Pontmercy, and one of Jesus Christ Superstar, as Simon Zealotes, and a featured singer in "Superstar".

He later returned to the production in 2004 as the full-time Enjolras.

In 2004, he returned to Les Misérables to the role of Enjolras.

That December, he appeared in a concert of Les Misérables at Windsor Castle in honor of the French president Jacques Chirac.

In June 2005, Karimloo joined the UK national tour of Miss Saigon, playing the role of Christopher Scott.

Karimloo started appearing in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera as the Phantom in September 2007.

The role earned him a Theatregoers' Choice Award nomination for Best Actor in a Take Over Role, he played the role from September 2007 to November 2009.

Karimloo released an EP, Within the Six Square Inch, on which he duets with Hadley Fraser and Sophia Ragavelas, with both of whom he had already appeared in Les Misérables, as Marius Pontmercy and Éponine Thenardier.

In July 2008, Karimloo participated in the Sydmonton Festival and was the first actor to play the Phantom in the workshop presentation of Love Never Dies.

It was the first act to the sequel of The Phantom of the Opera.

In 2008, Karimloo recorded the song "I Only Wish for You" with Shona Lindsay and Dianne Pilkington for the album Songs from the Musicals of Alexander S. Bermange, an album of 20 new recordings by 26 West End stars, released in November 2008 on Dress Circle Records.

In 2009, Karimloo participated in the recording of new musical album called Bluebird, by Gareth Peter Dicks.

Bluebird is a dramatic World War II musical, in which he played American serviceman Ben Breagan.

The 24-track album was released in four countries in September 2009.

Karimloo's last regular performance in The Phantom of the Opera was on November 7, 2009.

He also appeared in Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary reprising the role of Enjolras in October 2010.

He played the role alongside Sierra Boggess when the sequel opened in London in March 2010.

On October 3, 2010, Karimloo played the role of Enjolras in the 25th anniversary concert of Les Misérables at The O2 Arena in London.

He is also known to many Phantom fans for playing the role of the Phantom during The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Performance at the Royal Albert Hall, which was shown live in movie theaters around the world in October 2011, appearing opposite Sierra Boggess and Hadley Fraser as Christine Daaé and Raoul de Chagny, respectively.

In early 2011 it was streamed on PBS and released on DVD and Blu-ray.

In 2010, he moved on to playing the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, alongside Sierra Boggess, performing the role until the show closed on August 27, 2011.

In 2011, he sang Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera at the Miss World Competition, which took place in London.

On October 1 and 2, 2011, he and Boggess reunited as the Phantom and Christine Daaé and played opposite Hadley Fraser as Raoul for the 25th anniversary production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, which was streamed live to cinemas worldwide.

From November 29, 2011, to March 31, 2012, Karimloo returned to Les Misérables to play the lead role of Jean Valjean opposite Fraser as Javert at The Queen's Theatre, London, for which he won the 2013 Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Takeover in a Role.

In 2011, Karimloo had a guest appearance in Warwick Davis's BBC2 comedy Life's Too Short as a Scientologist.

He has also had a recurring role in The Spa (TV series) on Sky in the United Kingdom.

He made his Broadway debut as Jean Valjean in the 2014 Broadway revival of Les Misérables, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

He can also be heard as Stavros in As The Curtain Rises, Broadway's first original podcast soap opera.

After moving to the United Kingdom, Karimloo's first role was in a pantomime of Aladdin in Chatham, in which he played the title role.

He first played the role at the Kennedy Center in 2018, followed by a 2020 Japan tour and a Broadway concert in 2022.