Brandon J. Dirden | |
|---|---|
 Photo: [1] | |
| Born | 1978 (age 43–44) |
| Alma mater | Morehouse College University of Illinois |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Brandon J. Dirden (born 1978) is an American actor, best known for portraying Martin Luther King Jr. in the Broadway production of Robert Schenkkan's All the Way . [2]
A Morehouse College and University of Illinois graduate, Dirden made his Broadway debut in Prelude to a Kiss. He has since appeared regularly both on and off Broadway in plays such as Clybourne Park, The First Breeze of Summer and Detroit 67.
He played Dennis Aderholt in The Americans .
In 2012, he received an OBIE Award, [3] AUDELCO VIV Award [4] and a Theater World Award [5] and was nominated for The Drama League and Lucille Lortell awards for his portrayal of Boy Willie in the Signature Theatre's revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson . In 2017 he appeared in August Wilson's Jitney at Manhattan Theatre Club, and in 2022, appeared on Broadway in both Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew and the revival of Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out . Dirden was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actor in a Play for his role as Reggie in Skeleton Crew. [6]
Dirden made his directorial debut in September 2015 directing August Wilson's Seven Guitars [7] at Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey.
Dirden has guest-starred in TV series such as The Big C, The Good Wife , and Ed Burns' Public Morals .
Dirden is married to actress Crystal A. Dickinson, [8] whom he met while in graduate school at The University of Illinois. They have one son, Chase Ari Dirden. His brother is Jason Dirden, [9] also an actor. They frequently appear in plays together.
Nathan Lane is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Daytime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2006, Lane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2010, The New York Times hailed Lane as "the greatest stage entertainer of the decade".
Robert Frederic Schenkkan Jr. is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1992 for his play The Kentucky Cycle and his play All the Way earned the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play. He has three Emmy nominations and one WGA Award.
Take Me Out is a play by American playwright Richard Greenberg. After a staging at the Donmar Warehouse in London, it premiered Off-Broadway on September 5, 2002 at the Joseph Papp Public Theater. It made its Broadway debut on February 27, 2003 at the Walter Kerr Theatre, where it ran for 355 performances and won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play. A Broadway revival opened at the Hayes Theater on April 4, 2022.
Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. Best known as Herb Kelcher in My Two Dads (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in Gilmore Girls (2000–2007), and as Reverend Sikes in Desperate Housewives (2004–2012).
André Robin De Shields is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer.
Jitney is a play by American playwright August Wilson. The eighth in his "Pittsburgh Cycle", this play is set in a worn-down gypsy cab station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in early autumn 1977. The play premiered on Broadway in 2017.
King Hedley II is a play by American playwright August Wilson, the ninth in his ten-part series, The Pittsburgh Cycle. The play ran on Broadway in 2001 and was revived Off-Broadway in 2007.
Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Ruined, and in 2017 for her play Sweat. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times.
Lloyd George Richards was a Canadian-American theatre director, actor, and dean of the Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991, and Yale University professor emeritus.
Bill Rauch is an American theatre director. He was named the inaugural artistic director of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center in 2018. Currently in development, the Perelman is the final piece of the plan to revitalize the World Trade Center site and will create work which inspires hope.
Raúl Eduardo Esparza is an American stage, screen, and voice actor. Considered one of Broadway's leading men since the 2000s, he is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Bobby in the 2006 Broadway revival of Company and for his television role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he had a recurring role in Season 14 and was promoted to a series regular in Seasons 15 to 19.
Kenny Leon is an American director, producer, actor, and author, notable for his work on Broadway, on television, and in regional theater. In 2014, he won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Play for A Raisin in the Sun.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in Europe, on Broadway, in film, television, recordings and regional theatre. Productions that he has been involved in include Dessa Rose, Miss Saigon, The Wild Party, and several others.
Signature Theatre Company is an American theatre based in Manhattan, New York. It was founded in 1991 by James Houghton and is now led by Artistic Director Paige Evans. Signature is known for their season-long focus on one artist's work. It has been located in the Pershing Square Signature Center since 2012.
Marion Isaac McClinton was an American theatre director, playwright, and actor. He was nominated for the Tony Award for King Hedley II. He won the 2000 Vivian Robinson Audelco Black Theatre Awards, Director/Dramatic Production and the 1999–2000 Obie Awards, Direction, for Jitney, and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award.
Andy Sandberg is an American director, writer, actor, and producer. A 2005 graduate of Yale College, his Off-Broadway directing credits include Straight, Application Pending, Shida, Craving for Travel, Operation Epsilon, and The Last Smoker in America. He is also known as a producer of the Broadway (2009) and West End (2010) revivals of the musical Hair.
Arian Moayed is an Iranian-American actor, writer, and director. Moayed received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and also starred in the Tony Award-winning The Humans. Moayed gained prominence for his role as Stewy Hosseini in HBO's Succession and Todd Spodek in Netflix’s Inventing Anna, as well as his portrayal of Agent P. Cleary in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home and Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
Brandon Victor Dixon is an American actor, singer and theatrical producer. As a musical theatre actor, he is known for Tony Award-nominated Broadway performances as Harpo in the 2005 musical The Color Purple and Eubie Blake in Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (2016). He originated both roles, as well as the leading role of Berry Gordy Jr. in Motown: The Musical (2013) on Broadway, which earned a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In 2016, Dixon assumed the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway company of Hamilton. Off-Broadway as well as in London's West End, Dixon played the role of Hayward Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys and was nominated for a 2014 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
All the Way is a play by Robert Schenkkan, depicting President Lyndon B. Johnson's efforts to maneuver members of the 88th United States Congress to enact, and civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King Jr. to support, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The play takes its name from Johnson's 1964 campaign slogan, "All the Way with LBJ."
Crystal Anne Dickinson is an American actress. She made her Broadway debut in the play Clybourne Park written by Bruce Norris and directed by Pam MacKinnon.
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