Telly Leung | |
---|---|
Born | |
Education | Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) |
Occupations |
|
Spouse | James Babcock (m. 2016) |
Website | www |
Telly Leung (born January 3, 1980) is an American actor, director, singer and songwriter. He is known for his work in musical theatre on Broadway and for his role as Wes, a member of the Dalton Academy Warblers on the Fox comedy-drama series Glee . In 2011, he starred in the Broadway revival of Godspell at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
Leung was named one of 12 Faces to Watch in 2012: Dance, Theater, Architecture, and Art by the Los Angeles Times . [1]
Leung was born January 3, 1980, [2] and raised in New York City. He grew up in a traditional Chinese home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. [3] He gained admission into New York's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, from which he graduated in 1998, [4] alongside fellow actor Malcolm Barrett. It was at Stuyvesant that Leung seriously pursued theater, performing in high school productions of Pippin , Guys & Dolls , and West Side Story . His first professional job was as a featured performer in THE WB-TEAM 11, doing live and television promotional work for the WB Channel 11. After high school, Leung was accepted into Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. [5]
During the summers off from college, Leung earned his Equity Card performing at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and The MUNY in St. Louis. He worked with directors and choreographers including Tony Award winner Thommie Walsh, Larry Fuller, and Lee Roy Reams. It was also at CMU that he met fellow Broadway performer Billy Porter, who returned to his alma mater to direct the main stage production of Stephen Sondheim's Company . After casting Leung as Bobby in Company, Porter telephoned colleagues involved in the Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song and landed Leung an audition.
In the fall of 2002, Leung made his Broadway debut in the revival of Flower Drum Song, starring Lea Salonga, as a member of the ensemble and an understudy for Wang Ta. He later worked on Broadway with Sondheim in Roundabout Theatre's revival of Pacific Overtures in 2005. After Pacific Overtures, Leung originated the role of Boq in the Chicago company of the Stephen Schwartz musical Wicked . He moved back to New York in 2006 to take part in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Godspell . [6] He then returned to Broadway and performed as an ensemble member in the final run of Rent .
In 2007, he guest starred in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent . Leung was a member of the final company of Rent – and made his film debut as part of the ensemble in Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway . He had a recurring role in the musical comedy-drama series Glee from 2010 to 2011, portraying the role of Wes, a member of the Dalton Academy Warblers.
Leung appeared in the Broadway revival of Godspell at the Circle in the Square Theatre. He reprised his role from the Paper Mill production as the "All Good Gifts" soloist. He was a featured performer in the world premiere of the musical Allegiance at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. The production premiered in September 2012, with Lea Salonga and George Takei also in the cast. [7] In 2014, Leung appeared in the play The World of Extreme Happiness at Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He went on to star in the co-production at the Manhattan Theatre Club in February 2015.
In October 2015, Leung returned to Broadway in the musical Allegiance at the Longacre Theatre alongside co-stars George Takei and Lea Salonga. [8] He then went on to perform in the acapella musical In Transit . [9] Leung played the titular character of the Broadway production of Aladdin , having started his run on June 13, 2017.
In 2022, Leung directed Theatre Raleigh's production of Yellow Face. [10]
In August 2022, it was announced that Leung was cast in a new, recurring role for the third season of Max television series Warrior. [11]
In 2005, Leung released an original EP titled Getaway on Mopptopp Records. [12] His first solo LP, I'll Cover You, was released on December 4, 2012 through Yellow Sound. [13] Leung is a featured performer on the cast recordings of Godspell, Flower Drum Song, Pacific Overtures, Dear Edwina, and Wall to Wall Sondheim.
Leung, who is openly gay, [5] married James Babcock in December 2016. [14]
Year | Play | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002–2003 | Flower Drum Song | Ensemble | August Wilson Theatre; Understudy for Wang Ta |
2004–2005 | Pacific Overtures | Ensemble | Studio 54; Understudy for Kayama |
2005 | Thoroughly Modern Millie | Bun Foo | Regional |
2005 | Wicked | Boq / Tin Woodman | Oriental Theatre |
2006–2010 | Rent | Ensemble | Nederlander Theatre and National tour; Understudy for Angel |
2010 | Rent | Angel Schunard | Hollywood Bowl |
2011–2012 | Godspell | Ensemble | Circle in the Square Theatre |
2012, 2015–2016 | Allegiance | Young Sam Kimura | Old Globe Theatre, Longacre Theatre |
2016 | The Secret Garden | Fakir Bastiaan | David Geffen Hall |
2016–2017 | In Transit | Steven | Circle in the Square |
2017–2019 | Aladdin | Aladdin | New Amsterdam Theatre |
2019 & 2021 | Jesus Christ Superstar | Peter | Tokyu Theatre Orb |
2023 | Allegiance | Young Sam Kimura | Charing Cross Theatre, London, United Kingdom |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Kenny Li | Episode: "Renewal" |
2008 | Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway | Ensemble | Understudy for Angel |
2009 | Limelight | Kevin Chang | Pilot |
2010 | Rent at the Hollywood Bowl | Angel Schunard | |
2010–2011 | Glee | Wes | 7 episodes |
2011 | Late Show with David Letterman | 'Godspell' Ensemble | 1 episodes |
2014 | Deadbeat | Hiro Tamagachi | Episode: "The Hot God Contest" |
2016 | Odd Mom Out | Richard | Episode: "The High Road" |
2016 | George Takei's Allegiance | Sammy Kimura | Television film |
2018 | Instinct (U.S. TV series) | Sam | Episode: "Bye Bye Birdie" |
2020 | The Nice List | Chestnut | Television film |
2021 | New Amsterdam | Singer #2 | Episode: "Blood, Sweat & Tears" |
2023–present | Warrior | Marcel |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | True Crime: New York City | Fei Lao / Peasant | [15] |
Pacific Overtures is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by John Weidman, with "additional material by" Hugh Wheeler.
Company is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six. Company was among the first book musicals to deal with contemporary dating, marriage, and divorce, and is a notable example of a concept musical lacking a linear plot. In a series of vignettes, Company follows bachelor Bobby interacting with his married friends, who throw a party for his 35th birthday.
Bernadette Peters is an American actress and singer. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.
Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga, is a Filipino singer and actress. Known primarily for her work in theatre, she has starred in musicals on Broadway and in the West End. Her accolades include a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for two Grammy Awards. She was conferred with the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1990 and the Order of Lakandula in 2007, and she was honored as a Disney Legend in 2011.
Godspell is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hymns, with the passion of Christ appearing briefly near the end.
Valentine Ruth Henshall, known professionally as Ruthie Henshall, is an English actress, singer and dancer, known for her work in musical theatre. She began her professional stage career in 1986, before making her West End debut in Cats in 1987. A five-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1995 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Amalia Balash in the London revival of She Loves Me (1994).
Judy Kuhn is an American actress, singer and activist, known for her work in musical theatre. A four-time Tony Award nominee, she has released four studio albums and sang the title role in the 1995 film Pocahontas, including her rendition of the song "Colors of the Wind", which won its composers the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, also known as Sweeney Todd is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
Gavin Lee is an English actor who has appeared on the stage in musical theatre, notably as Bert in the musical Mary Poppins, in both the West End and on Broadway, and as Squidward Tentacles in the original Broadway cast of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical.
Michael Jerrod Moore, known professionally as Michael Arden, is an American actor, singer, musician, and theatre director. Arden won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2023 for the revival of the musical Parade.
Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.
Greg Watanabe is an American actor known for his role in Watch Over Me. He also appears in the independent films, Philip Kan Gotanda's Life Tastes Good, Only the Brave and Americanese. He is a founding member of the Asian American sketch comedy troupe, 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors. Watanabe received a 2009 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award nomination for Featured Performance in The Happy Ones at South Coast Repertory. In 2010, he appeared in the world premiere of Ken Narasaki's No-No Boy. In October 2015, Watanabe made his Broadway debut in Allegiance: A New American Musical at the Longacre Theatre in New York City with co-stars George Takei, Lea Salonga, Michael K. Lee and Telly Leung.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway and in London'sWest End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in the West End.
Stafford Arima is a Canadian-born theatre director. Arima studied at York University in Toronto, where he was the recipient of the Dean's Prize for Excellence in Creative Work. He is a member of the SDC and CAEA. In April 2017, he became the artistic director of Theatre Calgary.
Allegiance is a musical with music and lyrics by Jay Kuo and a book by Marc Acito, Kuo and Lorenzo Thione. The story, set during the Japanese American internment of World War II, was inspired by the personal experiences of George Takei, who starred in the musical. It follows the Kimura family in the years following the attack on Pearl Harbor, as they are forced to leave their farm in Salinas, California, and are sent to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in the rural plains of Wyoming.
George Ernest Salazar is an American actor, singer, and musician known for his work on and off-Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of Stephen Schwartz's Godspell. Salazar originated the role of Michael Mell in the 2015 musical Be More Chill and performed in the musical's 2018 Off-Broadway and Broadway in 2019 at the Lyceum Theater in New York City. He originated the role of Grover in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical and starred in Pasadena Playhouse's production of Little Shop of Horrors as Seymour Krelborn.
Michael K. Lee is an American theater actor and singer who resides in Seoul, Korea.
The 75th Tony Awards were held on June 12, 2022, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2021–22 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with Ariana DeBose serving as host of the main ceremony, and Darren Criss and Julianne Hough co-hosting a streaming pre-show.
Filipina singer and actress Lea Salonga has appeared in international theatre productions, television shows, films, and video games. She made her professional debut on stage in the 1978 Repertory Philippines production of The King and I. She went on to appear and star in productions such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1978), Fiddler on the Roof (1978), Annie (1980), The Sound of Music (1980), The Rose Tattoo (1980), and The Bad Seed (1981) in Manila. In 1981, Salonga made her film debut as Lisa in the Filipino comedy Tropang Bulilit. Salonga continued performing in theatre productions in Manila, including The Goodbye Girl (1982), The Paper Moon (1983), a revival of Annie (1984), and The Fantasticks (1988). From 1983 to 1985, Salonga hosted her own television variety show entitled Love, Lea. In 1986, she also appeared as a Thursday group member on the television series That's Entertainment. Throughout the 1980s, she also appeared in the Filipino films Like Father, Like Son (1985), Ninja Kids (1986), Captain Barbell (1986), Pik Pak Boom (1988), and Dear Diary (1989).
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends is a tribute revue honoring musical theatre composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh.