Happy Birthday to two-time Tony nominee Jonathan Groff, born March 26, 1985, in Lancaster, Pa. Groff was active in his school drama clubs as well as the local Fulton Opera House and Ephrata Performing Arts Center. After graduating from Conestoga Valley H.S. in 2003, he planned to attend Carnegie Mellon University, but he deferred his admission after being cast as Rolf in a non-Equity tour of The Sound of Music, after which Groff decided to move to New York and begin his career.
Two years later, Groff earned his Equity card with Fame at North Shore Music Theatre, then made his Broadway debut in the short-lived musical In My Life. His breakout role came in 2006, when he originated Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening, first in the show’s workshop, then its Off-Broadway and Broadway premieres, earning Drama Desk and Tony nominations for his performance, as well as a Theatre World Award. Below is Groff with Lea Michele and John Gallagher Jr. in a medley at the 2007 Tonys.
Groff returned Off-Broadway in the Public Theater revival of Hair (2008), the Craig Lucas dramas Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest (for which Groff won a 2009 Obie), and the Public Theater’s revival of The Bacchae (2009). Then in 2010, he joined the TV series Glee as Jesse St. James, lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline and love interest of Rachel Berry. He scored four Top 40 hits from the show’s soundtracks, including the #16 single “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which you can watch below.
In 2013, Groff played Frederic in the Public Theater gala production of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance, then voiced iceman Kristoff and his reindeer Sven in the Disney animated musical blockbuster Frozen. Below is Groff singing “Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People” from the film.
Groff had another busy year in 2015, when he joined the Off-Broadway cast of Hamilton as King George, earning his second Tony nomination and first Grammy. In between that show’s Off-Broadway and Broadway runs, Groff starred in concert stagings of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at London’s Royal Festival Hall and A New Brain in New York’s City Center Encores! series. Below is Groff singing “What Comes Next?” in Hamilton.
Recently, Groff starred in the 2017 musical podcast 36 Questions, the Netflix crime drama Mindhunter (2017), the 2018 Off-Broadway musical The Bobby Darin Story, the 2019 animated sequel Frozen II, and the 2019 Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, for which he received the Outer Critic Circle Award as well as Grammy and Lortel nominations. Below is Groff with Stephen Colbert in The Late Show spoof Mindhunter: The Musical (starting about 6:20 into the interview).