Jonathan Drew Groff born March 26, is an American actor and singer. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he has received several awards including a Tony Award and a Grammy Award as well as a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. He began his career on Broadway making his debut in the musical In My Life He later received Tony nominations for playing Melchior Gabor in the original production of the rock musical Spring Awakening and King George III in the original production of the historical musical Hamilton On television, he started his career with a recurring guest star as Jesse St.
James in the Fox musical-comedy series Glee — He starred as Patrick Murray in the HBO comedy-drama series Looking —15 , the network's first series centering on the lives of gay men, as well as its subsequent television film, Looking: The Movie He has since played Louis J. In , he executive produced the HBO documentary film Spring Awakening: Those You've Known , which saw the year reunion of the original cast of the musical.
Jonathan Drew Groff [ citation needed ] was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on March 26, [ 1 ] to Julie and Jim Groff, a horse trainer and a jockey. Groff's roots in theater and acting began at an early age. When he was three years old, Groff fell in love with Julie Andrews ' performance as Mary Poppins , and growing up, he and his brother put on childhood home productions, such as a performance of The Wizard of Oz in his father's barn, where he played Dorothy.
In his adolescence, Groff took part in many community productions in his hometown of Lancaster. At seventeen years old, he directed and starred in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at a high school theatre festival at the Fulton Opera House , for which he won a community award. His breakout performance occurred in , when Groff originated the lead role of Melchior Gabor in the Broadway production of the rock musical Spring Awakening.
The musical tells the story of repressed adolescents in late nineteenth century Germany discovering their sexuality, adapted from Frank Wedekind 's original play by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater and directed by Michael Mayer.
