Christian Borle Biography

Christian Borle (born October 1, 1973) is a Tony Award-winning American actor featured in several Broadway productions. He starred as Tom Levitt on the NBC musical-drama series Smash.

Early life

Christian was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His love for Star Wars and drawing made him want to become a comic book artist when he grew up, but it was only when a friend of his convinced him to audition for a school play in sophomore year when he soon developed an interest in acting.

Christian attended St. Edmund's Academy in Pittsburgh, where he played Scrooge in a 1987 production of Dickens's A Christmas Carol, but graduated from Shady Side Academy. He went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University before moving to New York in September 1995.

Career

Christian made his Broadway debut in 1998, understudying the role of Willard in the stage adaptation of the film Footloose. He was featured in the 2000 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, and was the dance captain and understudy of several characters for the short-lived 2002 musical Amour.

In 2003 he replaced Gavin Creel for the role of Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie. He married his co-star, actress Sutton Foster, who had played Millie, in September 2006. On a radio interview in 2010 it was confirmed that Borle and Foster had separated.

Christian 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 Starcatcher" in 2009. He played Bert in the Broadway production of Mary Poppins, replacing Adam Fiorentino in the role on October 12, 2009 and then left the cast July 15, 2010.

In 2010, he appeared in The Bounty Hunter, in which he played a golf caddy. In Fall 2010/Winter 2011, Christian 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 had joined Steven Spielberg's new NBC pilot Smash with Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston, Katharine McPhee, Brian d'Arcy James, and Megan Hilty. The series follows a cross section of characters who come together to mount a Marilyn Monroe-themed musical (which is called Bombshell) on Broadway.

In May 2011, it was reported that NBC had picked up the show as a series for the 2011-2012 season. In March 2012, NBC announced it would renew the series for a second season with 15 episodes.

Christian was a member of the original cast in the Regional and Off-Broadway productions of Peter and the Starcatcher that ran until April 24, 2011. He reprised the role of Black Stache on Broadway in April 2012, where his performance earned him his second Tony Award nomination and first win as Best Featured Actor in a Play. Christian ended his run in the Broadway production of Peter and the Starcatcher on June 30, 2012, to take a break before taping for Smash began on August 2012.

Christian will play Max Dettweiler in The Sound of Music Live!, which will air on NBC December 2013.

Personal

Christian actress Sutton Foster in college, and married her on September 18, 2006. During a radio interview in 2010, it was confirmed that Borle and Foster had gone their separate ways. Foster and Borle still remain good friends and continue to support each other's work.

Christian also briefly dated Legally Blonde co-star Laura Bell Bundy.

Theatre Credits

Year	Production	Location/Category	Role
2012	Peter and the Starcatcher	Broadway	Black Stache (Original Broadway Cast)
2011		Off-Broadway	Black Stache
2010	Angels in America	Off-Broadway	Prior Walter
2009	Peter and the Starcatcher	Regional	Black Stache
	Mary Poppins	Broadway	Bert (Replacement)
2008	On the Town	Concert	Ozzie
2007	Legally Blonde	Broadway	Emmett Forrest (Original Broadway Cast)
2005	The Flamingo Kid	Workshop	Performer
	Spamalot	Broadway	Historian / Not Dead Fred / French Guard / Minstrel / Prince Herbert (Original Broadway Cast)
2004	Snoopy! The Musical	Concert	Snoopy
	Time After Time	Reading	H.G. Wells
2003	Elegies: A Song Cycle	Off-Broadway	Original Performer
2002	Amour	Broadway	Dance Captain, Advocate (Understudy) / Bertrand (Understudy) / Dusoleil (Understudy) / Newsvendor (Understudy) / Painter (Understudy)
	Thoroughly Modern Millie	Broadway	Jimmy Smith (Replacement)
	Prodigal	Off-Broadway	Kane Flannery / Zach Marshall (Original Cast)
2001	The Baby and Johnny Project	Off-Broadway	Billy Kostecki
	Just So	Regional	Kangaroo / Cooking Stove / Bushbuck
	The 3 Musketeers, One Musical For All	Regional	Planchet (Original American Cast)
2000	Jesus Christ Superstar	Broadway	Disciple
1998	Footloose	Broadway	Willard Hewitt (Replacement)
1997/98	West Side Story	National Tour	Riff
1995	The Who's Tommy	Offenbach, Germany	Pinball Lad 1

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result
2011/12	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play	Peter and the Starcatcher
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance
	Lucille Lortel Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor
	Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards	Favorite Funny Performance
	BroadwayWorld.com Theater Awards	Best Featured Actor in a Play
2011	Tina Award	Best Actor (Play)	Peter and the Starcatcher Angels in America
	Tina Award	Best Ensemble (Play)	Angels in America
	Tina Award	Best Stage Duo (shared with Zachary Quinto)
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance
2010	Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards	Best Replacement	Mary Poppins
2007	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical	Legally Blonde
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance
2005	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical	Spamalot
	Clarence Derwent Award	Most Promising Male
	Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards	Favorite Featured Actor in a Broadway Musical
	Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards	Favorite Onstage Pair (shared with Hank Azaria)