Christian Borle

Christian Borle stars as Jim Bakker in Tammy Faye on Broadway at the Palace Theatre.

Christian Dominique Borle is a two-time Tony Award-winning actor and Broadway favorite, who was born on October 1, 1973 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the city’s famed School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, graduated in 1995, and moved to New York City.

After appearing in a German production of The Who’s Tommy and a National Tour of West Side Story, Borle made his Broadway debut, appearing as Willard Hewitt in the 1998 Broadway adaptation of Footloose. He went on to join the ensembles of the 2000 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar and the short-lived 2002 musical Amour. His first starring role was as Jimmy Smith in the Broadway premiere of Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2003, succeeding original cast member Gavin Creel. Next, he played several roles in Monty Python’s Spamalot, starred as Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde (earning his first Tony nomination in 2007), and took over as Bert in Mary Poppins in October 2009.

In 2010, he starred as Prior Walter in the off-Broadway revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and then as Black Stache in the New York Theatre Workshop production of Peter and the Starcatcher in 2011. The latter transferred to Broadway and resulted in Borle’s first Tony Award win in 2012. He returned to Broadway to originate the role of William Shakespeare in the musical comedy Something Rotten! in 2015, winning his second Tony, and went on to star as Marvin in the 2016 revival of the musical Falsettos. His performance as Marvin earned him his fourth Tony nomination, which came as he had already begun performances in his second show that same season. He starred as Willy Wonka in the Broadway premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from March 28, 2017 through January 14, 2018. He then appeared off Broadway as Orin in Little Shop of Horrors.

Although primarily considered a stage actor, he has also appeared in multiple onscreen projects, most famously starring as Tom Levitt in NBC’s Broadway-centric TV series Smash. In addition, he also starred in NBC’s popular live televised musicals, portraying Max Detweiler in “The Sound of Music Live!” in 2013 and Mr. Smee and George Darling in “Peter Pan Live!” in 2014.

In 2022, he returned to Broadway as Joe in Some Like It Hot, earning a Tony Award nomination.