Life and career

Born in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

, he grew up in the suburb of Franklin, where he was friends (and did amateur theatrics and films) with both Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi

Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...

 and Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell

Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...

. Sills attended Cranbrook School, from which he graduated in 1978, and the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 where he majored in music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

. He then continued his education at the American Conservatory Theatre in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

During the 1990s, Sills built a solid reputation as a stage character actor, especially in the professional theaters of southern California. He also performed in several national tours, including Into The Woods

Into the Woods

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...

 and The Secret Garden (musical)

The Secret Garden (musical)

The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical's book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon...

, which would also feature future Broadway stars as James Stacy Barbour

James Stacy Barbour

James Stacy Barbour , a.k.a. James Barbour, is a singer and Broadway actor. He graduated from Hofstra University with a degree in Acting and a minor in Philosophy.- Theatre credits :...

 and Audra McDonald

Audra McDonald

Audra Ann McDonald is an American actress and singer. She currently stars in the ABC television drama Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett. She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, such as Ragtime and A Raisin in the Sun...

. His first 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...

 role, however, came when composer Frank Wildhorn

Frank Wildhorn

Frank Wildhorn is an American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs. He is most known for his musical Jekyll & Hyde, which ran four years on Broadway, and for writing the #1 International Hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" for Whitney Houston.-Early years:Wildhorn was born in...

 and lyricist Nan Knighton

Nan Knighton

-Biography:Knighton is the daughter of Dr. Donald Proctor, a physician and his wife, Janice, an artist. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she is a 1965 graduate of Bryn Mawr School, with an undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a master's degree in creative writing from Boston...

 arrived in hopes of finding a male lead for their new musical, The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical)

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a musical with music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics and book by Nan Knighton, based on the novel of the same name by Baroness Orczy. The show is set in England and France during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution...

. Before this audition, Sills told his agent not to send him out on any more auditions because he was going to law school

Law school

A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

; he scored in the 99th percentile on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) so he could make a stable living. However, being a fan of the movie as a child, Sills decided to give acting one more chance. Luckily, the casting directors cast Sills as Sir Percy Blakeney, the lead role. Douglas Sills opened on his first Broadway show on November 9, 1997. Continuing the role in three other versions of the show. Sills received a Tony Award

Tony Award

The 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...

 nomination for his role. He portrayed the foppish hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...

 in SP 1.0 (The Original Broadway Production, starring Terrence Mann

Terrence Mann

Terrence Vaughan Mann is an American actor, director, singer, songwriter and dancer who has been prominent on the Broadway stage for the past three decades...

, Christine Andreas

Christine Andreas

-Biography:BroadwayAndreas was born in Camden, New Jersey. She made her Broadway debut in a 1975 revival of Angel Street. The following year she was cast as Eliza Doolittle in the 20th Anniversary production of My Fair Lady, for which she received the Theatre World Award...

 & Gilles Chiason), SP 2.0 (Revised Broadway Production, starring Rachel York

Rachel York

Rachel York is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in City of Angels, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Misérables, Victor Victoria, Kiss Me, Kate, Sly Fox, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels...

 & Rex Smith

Rex Smith

Rex Smith is an American actor and singer. Smith debuted in the Broadway play Grease in 1978. He is noted for his role as Jesse Mach in the 1985 television series Street Hawk, as well as being a singer and stage actor. During the late 1970s, Smith was popular as a teen idol...

), and was seen for several months in the National Tour (4.0). Although rumored to play the title role of Wildhorn's Dracula, the musical

Dracula, The Musical

Dracula, the Musical is a musical based on the original Victorian novel by Bram Stoker. The score is by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton....

, Sills opted out (despite doing a recording demo), and rather Tom Hewitt

Tom Hewitt

Tom Hewitt is an actor and Broadway stage performer, and a native of Victor, Montana.-Life:After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee with the Professional Theatre Training Program's first class in 1981, Tom Hewitt worked with such regional powerhouses as Minneapolis's Guthrie...

 portrayed the gothic character at the premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2001. He has also played Orin Scrivello, as well as several other roles in the 2003 Broadway revival cast of Little Shop of Horrors (musical)

Little Shop of Horrors (musical)

Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...

.

In 2004, Sills joined the Broadway-aimed Chicago production of Monty Python'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...

. However, before the production even began, Sills left on his own account due to reported "major script changes." In early 2005, production plans were announced for Wildhorn's new musical "Cyrano de Bergerac," from the same team that helped launch his career with The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical)

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a musical with music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics and book by Nan Knighton, based on the novel of the same name by Baroness Orczy. The show is set in England and France during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution...

. The role was written specifically for Sills in the title role. However, plans were scraped suddenly in Spring 2006, and no reason was given for the production's demise. A studio-concept recording was planned to be released, starring Sills, Linda Eder

Linda Eder

Linda Eder is an American singer and actress. She made her Broadway debut in the musical Jekyll & Hyde, for which she received 1997 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Nominations, as well as the Theatre World Award for Best Actress in a Musical...

 and Rob Evan

Rob Evan

Rob Evan is a singer and actor, best known as a lead performer in numerous Broadway musicals, a performer in national and international tours of musical productions, and a featured vocalist on several music albums.-Personal:...

, but plans also quickly fell through.

In 2009, Sills starred opposite Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown , for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical...

 at the New York City Center's production of Music in the Air

Music in the Air

Music in the Air is a musical written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern . It introduced songs such as "The Song Is You", "In Egern on the Tegern See" and "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star"...

, a long-forgotten Kern-Hamerstein project from the 1930s. The concert-style version ran from February 5 until February 8.

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