Happy Birthday to four-time Tony-winning performer Boyd Gaines, born May 11, 1953, in Atlanta. During a “gypsy childhood,” due to his salesman father’s frequent job transfers, Gaines attended some dozen grammar schools, eventually graduating high school in California. He began his theater training at Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, Calif., and moved to New York in 1975 when he was accepted into the Juilliard School Drama Division’s Group 8.
Gaines made his professional debut in 1978 as Melchior in Juilliard’s revival of the play Spring Awakening, which had impressed Joseph Papp enough to move Off-Broadway. A year after graduating, Gaines won a Theatre World Award in Roundabout’s Off-Broadway revival of the play A Month in the Country. That same year, he made his film debut in Fame, then secured a recurring role on the sitcom One Day at a Time (1981-84) as the boyfriend (then husband) of Valerie Bertinelli’s character.
He ended the decade in the Off-Broadway premiere of Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer-winning play The Heidi Chronicles (1988), with which he made his Broadway debut and earned his first Tony Award. In 1993, Gaines made his Broadway musical debut as the lead in Roundabout’s revival of She Loves Me, for which he earned his second Tony and first Drama Desk Award. Below is Gaines performing the show’s title song.
His next two Broadway appearances were in the leading roles of musical revivals also produced by Roundabout: Robert in Company (1995) and Cliff in Cabaret (1999). Below is Gaines singing “Being Alive” from the former show.
Three months after his stint in Cabaret, Gaines originated the lead role of the dance show Contact, for which he earned his first Lortel Award, his second Drama Desk nomination, and his third Tony Award. Below is the cast performing to “Simply Irresistible” at the 2000 Tony Awards.
Gaines earned his fourth Tony nomination and second Drama Desk Award for the 2007 revival of the play Journey’s End. A year later, he won his fourth Tony and his third Drama Desk for the 2008 revival of Gypsy opposite Patti LuPone. He earned his fifth Drama Desk Award for the play The Grand Manner (2011). Below is Gaines, LuPone, and Laura Benanti performing “Together, Wherever We Go” in Gypsy.