Christian Borle
Encyclopedia
Christian Borle is an American
actor
. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, Borle has been primarily featured as an actor in Broadway
productions.
Borle attended St. Edmund's Academy in the Pittsburgh area, where he played Scrooge in a 1987 production of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol". He graduated from Shady Side Academy
in Pittsburgh and attended Carnegie Mellon University
before moving to New York in September 1995.
. He was featured in the 2000 revival
of Jesus Christ Superstar
, and as the dance captain and an understudy
for the short-lived 2002 musical Amour
.
In 2003 he replaced Gavin Creel
in the role of Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Actress Sutton Foster
played the title role; the two married in September 2006. On a radio interview in 2010 it was confirmed that Borle and Foster had gone their separate ways.
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
.
He was featured in the Encores!
staged concert version of On the Town as "Ozzie", running in November 2008. He appeared in a workshop production of a new play titled "Peter and the Starcatchers" in 2009.
On television, Borle was featured prominently in a television commercial in which he danced and sang the praises of eBay
.
Borle most recently played Bert in the Broadway production of Mary Poppins
. He replaced Adam Fiorentino in the role on October 12, 2009 and then left the cast July 15, 2010. He was succeeded by Nicolas Dromard.
In 2010, Borle also appeared in The Bounty Hunter
, in which he played a golf caddy.
In the fall of 2010 and winter of 2011, Borle played the role of Prior Walter in Signature Theatre Company
's 20th Anniversary production of Tony Kushner
's Angels in America
.
On February 25, 2011, it was announced that Borle will join Steven Spielberg's new NBC pilot Smash
with Debra Messing
, Anjelica Houston, Katharine McPhee
, Brian d'Arcy James
, and Megan Hilty
. The series follows a cross section of characters who come together to put on a Marilyn Monroe musical on Broadway. In May 2011, it was reported that NBC had picked up the show as a series for the Fall 2011-2012 season.
He was recently in the production of "Peter and the Starcatcher" as The Black Stache. The short production ran off-Broadway until April 24, 2011.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Borle has been primarily featured as an actor in Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions.
Borle attended St. Edmund's Academy in the Pittsburgh area, where he played Scrooge in a 1987 production of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol". He graduated from Shady Side Academy
Shady Side Academy
Shady Side Academy is a private, secular coeducational PK-12 preparatory school located on three campuses in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, established in 1883.- Campuses :Shady Side Academy has three campuses in Pittsburgh....
in Pittsburgh and attended Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
before moving to New York in September 1995.
Career
Borle made his Broadway debut in 1999 understudying the role of Willard in the stage adaptation of the film FootlooseFootloose (musical)
Footloose is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow , the lyrics by Dean Pitchford , and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie.-Act 1:...
. He was featured in the 2000 revival
Revival (play)
A revival is a restaging of a stage production after its original run has closed. New material may be added. A filmed version is said to be an adaptation and requires writing of a screenplay....
of Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
, and as the dance captain and an understudy
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
for the short-lived 2002 musical Amour
Amour (musical)
Amour is a musical fantasy with an English book by Jeremy Sams, music by Michel Legrand, and lyrics by Didier Van Cauwelaert, who wrote the original French libretto....
.
In 2003 he replaced Gavin Creel
Gavin Creel
Gavin James Creel is an American actor, singer and song writer.Born in Findlay, Ohio, Creel received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre at the University of Michigan in 1998. Creel, who is openly gay, is a regular on the LGBT RFamilyVacations cruise with Rosie O'Donnell...
in the role of Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Actress Sutton Foster
Sutton Foster
Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress, singer and dancer. Foster has received two Tony Awards, in 2002 for her role of Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie and in 2011 for her role of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes...
played the title role; the two married in September 2006. On a radio interview in 2010 it was confirmed that Borle and Foster had gone their separate ways.
Borle performed Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
's Spamalot
Spamalot
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways, especially in its parodies of Broadway theatre...
, in which he originated a number of roles, including Prince Herbert and the Historian. His performance earned him a 2005 Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
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
Legally Blonde (musical)
Legally Blonde is a musical with music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach. The story is based on the novel Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown and the 2001 film of the same name. It tells the story of Elle Woods, a sorority girl who enrolls at Harvard Law School to...
, 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
Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and produced by Marc E. Platt...
.
He was featured in the Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
staged concert version of On the Town as "Ozzie", running in November 2008. He appeared in a workshop production of a new play titled "Peter and the Starcatchers" in 2009.
On television, Borle was featured prominently in a television commercial in which he danced and sang the praises of eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Borle most recently played Bert in the Broadway production of Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (musical)
Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...
. He replaced Adam Fiorentino in the role on October 12, 2009 and then left the cast July 15, 2010. He was succeeded by Nicolas Dromard.
In 2010, Borle also appeared in The Bounty Hunter
The Bounty Hunter (2010 film)
The Bounty Hunter is a 2010 American action comedy film directed by Andy Tennant, starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. The story centers on a bounty hunter hired to retrieve his ex-wife who has skipped bail...
, in which he played a golf caddy.
In the fall of 2010 and winter of 2011, Borle played the role of Prior Walter in Signature Theatre Company
Signature Theatre Company
Signature Theatre Company, founded in 1991 by James Houghton, exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process...
's 20th Anniversary production of Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
's Angels in America
Angels in America
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
.
On February 25, 2011, it was announced that Borle will join Steven Spielberg's new NBC pilot Smash
Smash (TV series)
Smash is an upcoming American NBC series set to premiere on Monday, February 6, 2012.-Synopsis:The show revolves around a group of characters who come together to put on a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. But before that can happen, the people who will try to bring it all...
with Debra Messing
Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....
, Anjelica Houston, Katharine McPhee
Katharine McPhee
Katharine Hope McPhee is an American pop singer, songwriter, actress, model, and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol in 2006, eventually finishing as the runner-up.Her self-titled debut album was released on RCA Records...
, Brian d'Arcy James
Brian d'Arcy James
Brian d'Arcy James is an American actor and musician.-Personal life:James was born in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of Mary , a seller of children's books, and a lawyer father, Thomas F. James. Brian's maternal grandfather was Harry F. Kelly, former Governor of the state of Michigan...
, and Megan Hilty
Megan Hilty
Megan Kathleen Hilty is an American stage and television actress.- Early years :Hilty was born in Bellevue, Washington and is the daughter of Jack and Donna Hilty. She attended Sammamish High School in Bellevue and the Washington Academy of Performing Arts Conservatory High School in Redmond,...
. The series follows a cross section of characters who come together to put on a Marilyn Monroe musical on Broadway. In May 2011, it was reported that NBC had picked up the show as a series for the Fall 2011-2012 season.
He was recently in the production of "Peter and the Starcatcher" as The Black Stache. The short production ran off-Broadway until April 24, 2011.
Awards and nominations
- 2007 Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Legally Blonde (nominee) - 2007 Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for Legally Blonde (nominee) - 2005 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Featured Actor in a Broadway Musical for Spamalot (winner)
- 2005 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Onstage Pair (shared with Hank AzariaHank AzariaHenry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
) for Spamalot (nominee) - 2005 Clarence Derwent Award for Spamalot (winner)
- 2005 Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for Spamalot (nominee)