Randy Harrison | |
---|---|
![]() Harrison in 2007 | |
Born | Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S. | November 2, 1977
Education | University of Cincinnati (BFA) |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1985–present |
Randolph Clarke Harrison [1] (born November 2, 1977) [1] is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Justin Taylor on the Showtime drama Queer as Folk .
Harrison was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, where he starting acting early. He attended Bicentennial Elementary School and starred as Peter Pan in the school play. He was also active in the Actorsingers and played Winthrop in a 1987 production of The Music Man. [2] He moved to Alpharetta, Georgia, with his family at age eleven. [3] He attended Pace Academy, a private prep school in Atlanta. [4] His father is an executive with a large paper company, while he has described his mother as a "thwarted artist." [5] His only sibling, an older brother, is a bank manager. [5]
Harrison attended the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre. During his time at CCM, Harrison starred in university productions such as Hello Again, Shopping and Fucking, and Children of Eden. He also had roles in other theatrical venues across the U.S., in productions such as Violet at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, 1776 at the St. Louis Municipal Theatre and West Side Story at the Forestburg Playhouse, as well as productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream , The Real Inspector Hound and A Cheever Evening .
Harrison made his television debut playing Justin Taylor, a gay teen, in 2000's American version of Queer as Folk, based on the British television series. The series ran for five seasons, ending in 2005. In 2002, Harrison played the character Sean in Bang Bang You're Dead , a made-for-television movie based on the play of the same name. Harrison stars as Brutus in cinematographer/director/writer Patrick Donelley's postmodern feature film adaptation of Julius Caesar opposite actor John Shea as the title role.
In 2002, Harrison starred in the play Deviant at the New York International Fringe Festival. In summer 2004, Harrison made his Broadway debut as Boq in the musical Wicked . His Off Broadway credits include A Letter for Ethel Kennedy (MCC Theater, 2002), the Father in Oak Tree (Perry Street Theatre, 2006), Young Spencer in Edward II (Red Bull Theatre, 2007–08), Eros in Antony and Cleopatra (Theatre for a New Audience, 2008), Laszlo Fickes/Gerhardt Zeitzler in A Singing Forest (Public Theatre, 2009), and Kevin Adams-Weller in Harbor (Primary Stages, 2013). Harrison has also done several staged readings for Red Bull Theatre and starred in their "In the Raw" workshop production of A Tyger's Heart in February 2011.
Harrison has a substantial résumé in regional theatre, most prominently as a featured player since 2005 at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Roles with BTF include Alan Strang in Equus (2005), the title role in Amadeus (2006), Bill Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (2007), Frank Gardner in Mrs. Warren's Profession (2007), Lucky in Waiting for Godot (2008), Osvald Alving in Ghosts (2009), Nagg in Endgame (2010), and the title character in The Who's "Tommy" (2011). Other regional theatre credits include Lysander/Thisbe/Cobweb in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream , presented in spring 2006 by the SITI Company (where Harrison has studied extensively through Skidmore College and in Manhattan); Tom in the Guthrie Theater's production of The Glass Menagerie (2007); Andy Warhol in the Yale Repertory Theatre's production of Pop! (2009); Sebastian in the Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of Twelfth Night (2010); Tim in the Studio Theatre's production of Habit of Art ; and Ken in the George Street Playhouse's production of Red (2012).
In 2006, Harrison co-founded the Arts Bureau (tAB) , an umbrella organization encompassing theatre, film, music, and writing. In July 2007, he starred in tAB's first production, a heartwarming story, ultimately, based on the work of Anton Chekhov. In late 2007/early 2008, Harrison shot and starred in the first tAB short film, Thinking, which has been shown at several film festivals. In Summer 2008, tAB shot its first feature film Lorton Lake.
Harrison, who is gay, dated Advertising Age columnist Simon Dumenco from 2002 to 2008; the two met when Dumenco interviewed Harrison for a New York magazine cover story. [6] [7] [8] As of December 2009, Harrison lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with his cats Ella and Aggie. [9]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2000 – 2005 | Queer as Folk | Justin Taylor | Main cast; 83 episodes |
2015 | Mr. Robot | Harry | Recurring role [10] |
2017 | New York is Dead | Clipboard Guy/... | Recurring role; 5 episodes |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | Bang Bang You're Dead | Sean | Television film |
2008 | Thinking... | "Boy" | |
2010 | Julius Caesar | Brutus | |
2011 | Lorton Lake | ||
2012 | Gayby | Barman | Cameo appearance |
2014 | Such Good People | Alex Reardon | |
2015 | Sam & Julia | Sam | |
2015 | Photo OP | Jacob |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1985 | Oliver | Child Chorus | Actorsingers, Nashua, NH |
1987 | Music Man | Winthrop | Actorsingers, Nashua, NH |
Hello Again | Young Thing | University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) | |
Shopping and Fucking | Robbie | University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) | |
Children of Eden | Abel | University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) | |
The Hot Mikado | Gentleman from Japan | University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) | |
Rags | University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) | ||
1999 | Violet | Billy Dean | Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati |
1999 | 1776 | The Courier | St. Louis Municipal Theater |
Grease | St. Louis Municipal Theater | ||
Anything Goes | St. Louis Municipal Theater | ||
West Side Story | Action | Forestburg Playhouse | |
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Benjamin | Forestburg Playhouse | |
Babes in Arms | Lee Calhoun | Forestburg Playhouse | |
Cabaret | Forestburg Playhouse | ||
The Real Inspector Hound | |||
A Cheever Evening | |||
2002 | Deviant | ||
2004 | Wicked | Boq | Broadway |
2005 | Equus | Alan Strang | Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2006 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Lysander/Thisbe/Cobweb | |
2006 | Amadeus | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2006 | An Oak Tree | The father | |
A Letter From Ethel Kennedy | |||
2007 | The Glass Menagerie | Young Tom | Guthrie Theater |
2007 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Billy Bibbit | Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2007 | Mrs. Warren's Profession | Frank Gardner | Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2007/2008 | Edward the Second | Young Spencer | |
2008 | Antony and Cleopatra | Eros | April/May |
2008 | Waiting for Godot | Lucky | Summer Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2009 | The Singing Forest | Laszlo Fickes/Gerhardt Zeitzler | April/May The Public Theater |
2009 | Ghosts | Oswald | Summer Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2009 | POP! | Andy Warhol | Fall Yale Repertory Theatre |
2010 | Caligula by Albert Camus | Scipio | January Red Bull Theatre Revelations Reading |
2010 | Endgame | Nagg | Summer Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2011 | The Who's Tommy | Tommy | Summer Berkshire Theatre Festival |
2011 | The Habit of Art | Tim | Fall The Studio Theatre |
2012 | Red | Ken | January 31 – February 26 at George Street Playhouse March 23 – April 4 at Allen Theatre, Cleveland |
2012 | Silence! The Musical | Dr. Chilton | July 18 – September 9 at Elektra Theater, NYC |
2013 | Harbor | Kevin | July 23 – September 8 by Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters, NYC |
2014 | Atomic Musical | Paul Tibbets and Edward Teller [11] | June 26 – August 16 The Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row [12] |
2014 | Amadeus | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | October 9–26 Ensemble Theater Co. at The New Vic, Santa Barbara, CA |
2016 | Cabaret [13] | Emcee | January 26, 2016 - February 19, 2017, Roundabout Theater Co. Nat'l Tour |
2017 | Sunday in the Park with George | George | June 17 – August 20, 2017 Guthrie Theater |
2017 | Rocky Horror Show | Frank-N-Furter | October 13–29, 2017 Bucks County Playhouse |
2018 | Angels in America | Prior Walter | April 17 – July 22, 2018 Berkeley Rep |
2018 | Christmas on the Rocks [14] [15] | Tiny Tim, Charlie Brown, Ralphie, Hermie | Nov 27- Dec 23, 2018 Theater Works Hartford [16] |
2019 | Cabaret [17] | Emcee | Jul 17 - Aug 10, 2019 |
2021 | Cock [18] | John | Studio Theatre |
2022 | ...what the end will be [19] | Charles | May 12 – July 10, 2022 |
Alan Cumming is a Scottish actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for the West End production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1991). His other Olivier-nominated roles were in The Conquest of the South Pole (1988), La Bête (1992), and Cabaret (1994). Cumming won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for reprising his role as the Emcee on Broadway in Cabaret (1998). His other performances on Broadway include Design for Living (2001), and Macbeth (2013).
Queer as Folk is a drama television series that ran from December 3, 2000, to August 7, 2005. The series was produced for Showtime and Showcase by Cowlip Productions, Tony Jonas Productions, Temple Street Productions, and Showtime Networks, in association with Crowe Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. It was developed and written by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, who were the showrunners and also the executive producers along with Tony Jonas, former president of Warner Bros. Television.
Cabaret is an American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff. It is based on the 1951 play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, which in turn was based on the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.
Joel Grey is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer, and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical Cabaret on Broadway and in Bob Fosse's 1972 film adaptation. He has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. He earned the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2023.
Torch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish homosexual, drag queen, and torch singer who lives in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The four-hour play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.
Michael Carlyle Hall is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He is known for playing David Fisher in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2001–2005) and the titular character in the Showtime series Dexter (2006–2013). For these roles, he has collectively won a Golden Globe Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. He reprised the role of Dexter for the miniseries revival Dexter: New Blood (2021–2022).
Peter Paige is an American actor, director and screenwriter. He is best known for his portrayal of Emmet Honeycutt in the gay drama Queer as Folk. His debut as director and writer was on the film Say Uncle.
Charles Louis Busch is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and drag queen, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays off-off-Broadway beginning in 1978, generally in drag roles, and also acted in the works of other playwrights. He also wrote for television and began to act in films and on television in the late 1990s. His best known play is The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000), which was a success on Broadway.
The culture of San Francisco is major and diverse in terms of arts, music, cuisine, festivals, museums, and architecture but also is influenced heavily by Mexican culture due to its large Hispanic population, and its history as part of Spanish America and Mexico. San Francisco's diversity of cultures along with its eccentricities are so great that they have greatly influenced the country and the world at large over the years. In 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek voted San Francisco as America's Best City.
Matthew Warchus is an English theatre director, filmmaker, and dramaturg. He has been the Artistic Director of London's The Old Vic since September 2015.
Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.
Kenneth Page was an American actor and cabaret singer who created the part of Ken in the original Broadway production of Ain't Misbehavin' and played Old Deuteronomy in the original Broadway and filmed stage adaptation of Cats. He voiced Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas franchise and played in the original Broadway production of The Wiz as The Lion and the first Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls as Nicely-Nicely Johnson.
Stagedoor Manor is a performing arts training center located in Loch Sheldrake, New York. Since its opening, it has trained thousands of young actors, many of whom have gone on to success in film, television, and theater.
Mark Saltzman is an American script writer who has written films, plays and musicals and for TV. He worked for several years for Sesame Street. He has been given seven Emmy Awards for Best Writing for a Children's Show.
Bruce Dow is an American actor, best known for his five featured roles on Broadway, his 12 seasons in leading roles at the Stratford Festival, his Dora Mavor Moore Awards-winning performances at Buddies in Bad Times, the world's largest and longest running LGBTQ theatre, his voicing the character of Max for Total Drama Pahkitew Island and his appearances on the Rick Mercer Report and Murdoch Mysteries. He also appeared on Corn & Peg as Captain Thunderhoof's arch enemy, the Bad Bronco. He also voices Sir Topham Hatt and Harold the Helicopter (US) in Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
James Millar is an Australian actor, singer and writer. He wrote the musical drama The Hatpin, the song cycle LOVEBiTES and co-wrote the semi-autobiographical musical A Little Touch of Chaos.
Brent Barrett is an American actor and tenor who is mostly known for his work within American theatre. Barrett has performed in musicals and in concerts with theatres, symphony orchestras, opera houses, and concert halls internationally. He starred in the original production of Maltby and Shire's hit Off-Broadway musical Closer Than Ever in 1989 and the 2001 West End revival of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate. He has also appeared sporadically on television and in films.
Taylor Hunt Trensch is an American stage and film actor.
Fra Fee is a Northern Irish actor and singer known for his role as Kazi in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He portrayed Courfeyrac in Tom Hooper's 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables. Fee also played the role of Michael Carney in Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman at the Royal Court Theatre, West End, and Broadway, directed by Sam Mendes. For his performance, he won the 2018 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.
Blake Liahona Allen, PhD is an American composer and viola player who is most known for writing INSOMINA, which debuted at Carnegie Hall, the shards of an honor code junkie, music directing the 2019 revival of Over Here!, writing the theme song for the talk show Doris Dear's Gurl Talk, and appearing on Shade: Queens of NYC.