Biography
Best known for his musical theatre work, actor/singer Anthony Rapp originated leading roles in "Rent" and "If/Then" but also enjoyed screen time in "Adventures in Babysitting" (1987), "Road Trip" (2000) and "Star Trek: Discovery" (CBS All Access, 2017-). Born in Chicago, IL in 1971, Rapp was already an experienced performer by the time he reached junior high, having appeared in a regional production of "Evita" and short-lived Broadway musical "The Little Prince and the Aviator." Rapp continued to pursue a stage career, studying at the Interlochen Arts Camp and bagging key parts in numerous off-Broadway shows. But after first appearing on screen as Daryl in Chris Columbus' comedy "Adventures in Babysitting" (1987), he also began to rack up numerous film and TV credits, including indie thriller "Far from Home" (1989), paranormal horror "Grave Secrets" (1989) and TV movie "Sky High" (1990). He then appeared alongside several future A-listers as prep school bully McGoo in "School Ties" (1992) and intellectual Tony in Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused" (1993). Having played Ben in the Broadway version of "Six Degrees of Separation," Rapp then assumed the role for its 1993 big-screen adaptation before landing his career-defining part, struggling documentarian Mark Cohen in the provocative stage musical "Rent." Following a brief appearance as storm-chaser Tony in "Twister" (1996), Rapp played a young gay man on a voyage of self-discovery in "David Searching" (1997), the same year he identified as 'queer' in an interview with Out magazine, and a gay photographer in 1920s-based farce "Man of the Century" (1999). Rapp then played songwriter Van Dyke Parks in "The Beach Boys: An American Family" (ABC, 2000), villainous teaching assistant Jacob in broad comedy "Road Trip" (2000) and aspiring physicist Bender in the Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind" (2001). After releasing his first solo album, Look Around, in 2000, Rapp showcased his vocal talent on screen, firstly in real estate musical "Open House" (2004) and secondly when reprising his signature role in the movie adaptation of "Rent" (2005). Rapp then enjoyed supporting parts in ensemble drama "Happy Endings" (2005) and gritty drug tale "Blackbird" (2007), landed the recurring part of Larry Kellogg in "Kidnapped" (NBC, 2006-07) and adapted his 2006 memoir, Without You, into a touring stage musical. After taking the lead in indie drama "Scaring the Fish" (2009), Rapp played Natalie Portman's best friend Simon in "The Other Woman" (2009), home invasion victim Connor in "Junction" (2010) and Zander in the musical episode of "Psych" (USA Network, 2006-2014). He then originated the role of Lucas in Tony-nominated musical "If/Then" before guesting as Dr. Thurman Drexler in medical drama "The Knick" (Cinemax, 2014-15) and Diane's accountant Glenn in spin-off "The Good Fight" (CBS, 2017-). After playing high school drama teacher Logan in "Opening Night" (2016), Rapp starred as grieving father Brad and groom-to-be Daniel in LGBT dramas "bwoy" (2016) and "Do You Take This Man" (2016), respectively. He was then cast in "Star Trek: Discovery" (CBS All Access, 2017-) as the franchise's first openly gay character, Lieutenant Paul Stamets. That high-profile casting was somewhat overshadowed in October of that year, when Rapp revealed during an interview with Buzzfeed News that in 1986, when he was 14, then-26-year-old actor Kevin Spacey attempted to physically initiate sex with the underage actor in the bedroom of Spacey's home during a party. The news, in the midst of a series of Hollywood-centric sexual abuse and harassment scandals started by the downfall of producer Harvey Weinstein, caused Netflix to indefinitely suspend production on the final season of Spacey's series "House of Cards" (Netflix 2013-18). Rapp continued working on other projects in addition to his "Star Trek: Discovery" duties, appearing on episodes of "13 Reasons Why" (Netflix, 2017- ) and James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke: The Series" (Apple, 2017- ) as well as an appearance as himself during a live TV performance of "Rent: Live" (Fox, 2019).
