Andrew Rannells

Andrew Scott Rannells (born August 23, 1978) is an American actor and producer best known for originating the role of Elder Price in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. He has built a diverse career spanning stage, film, and streaming projects while establishing himself as a prominent voice in both comedy and dramatic performances.

Andrew Rannells Bio

Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Rannells discovered his passion for performing at an early age. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes grade school and then Creighton Preparatory School, an all-boys Roman Catholic school in Omaha. He is the fourth of five siblings, with three sisters and an older brother. His family lived in the Hanscom Park neighborhood in Omaha. As a child, he took classes at the Emmy Gifford Children’s Theater and performed at the Omaha Community Playhouse, Firehouse Dinner Theatre, and Dundee Dinner Theatre. He was eleven years old when he acted in his first play. He did community theater with fellow Omahan and Creighton Prep alumnus Conor Oberst. He also performed voice-over work and appeared in commercials, including a 1996 Grease spoof with Amy Adams. He graduated as a 1997 YoungArts alumnus alongside Zuzanna Szadkowski and Michael Benjamin Washington. He moved to New York City in 1997 after graduating from high school and studied theater at Marymount Manhattan College for two years before beginning to audition full-time and land professional roles.

Path to Acting

Rannells began his professional career as a teenager through voice acting work. In the mid-1990s, he found work with the animation production company DIC Entertainment through an Omaha casting call. He was subsequently cast in a number of their television productions in main voice roles. He continued to work in voice acting for several years while pursuing theater opportunities. Rannells worked with the New York City-based production company 4Kids Entertainment from 2001 to 2004. He did voice acting for several English dubs of anime series such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, in addition to serving as voice director for the dubs of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Sonic X. Before winning his first Broadway role, Rannells appeared in regional theater productions including Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Miss Saigon, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. For his turn as Hedwig at the Zachary Scott Theater Center in Austin, Texas, in 2002, he won Best Actor in a Musical at the B. Iden Payne Awards, which honor outstanding achievements in Austin theater.

Andrew Rannells Career

Early Career (1994–2005)

Rannells began his professional acting career in 1994 through voice work in animation while still a teenager. One of his first theater roles was as the character James in the touring production of Pokémon Live! from September 2000 to August 2001. While he later expressed dissatisfaction with this role, it provided him with valuable professional experience and income during the early years of his career. He continued building his resume through regional theater productions throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, developing his craft and preparing for his eventual Broadway debut.

Broadway Breakthrough (2005–2012)

In 2005, Rannells made his Broadway debut when he first understudied and then assumed the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway production of Hairspray. He followed this with regional performances before playing Bob Gaudio in the First National Tour of Jersey Boys. His last performance with the tour was on December 6, 2008, in Toronto. In January 2009, he reprised the role of Gaudio in the musical’s Broadway production. In 2011, Rannells originated the role of Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, a musical written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez. For his performance, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for his performance in the musical’s Original Broadway Cast Recording. His last performance was June 10, 2012.

Film and Television Success (2012–present)

Beginning in 2012, Rannells expanded his career into screen acting. He played a stripper in the 2012 film Bachelorette and starred as Bryan Collins in the 2012–13 NBC sitcom The New Normal. He played the recurring role of Elijah on the HBO television series Girls from 2012 to 2017. In 2015, Universal Pictures acquired a comedy that was to be written by Rannells with Mike Doyle and produced by Judd Apatow. He temporarily replaced Jonathan Groff in the role of King George III in Hamilton on Broadway from October 27 to November 29, 2015, while Groff fulfilled pre-arranged filming commitments. Rannells played the role of Whizzer Brown in the Broadway revival of Falsettos directed by James Lapine, joined by Christian Borle and Stephanie J. Block. The musical ran from October 27, 2016 (with previews beginning September 29), to January 8, 2017, and he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance. He played Larry in the 2018 Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band, a limited run in honor of the play’s 50th anniversary that won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. He reprised his role for the Netflix film adaptation released on September 30, 2020.

Recent Projects and Continued Work

On the television show Black Monday, Rannells played Blair Pfaff in one of the leading roles and also served as a producer. The show premiered on January 20, 2019, on Showtime and ran for three seasons. During this period, he returned to voice acting with notable credits including main roles in Netflix’s Big Mouth and Amazon Prime Video’s Invincible. He played Trent Oliver in Netflix’s 2020 movie musical The Prom, an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. In 2022, Rannells made his London stage debut originating the role of Jim Bakker in the musical Tammy Faye at the Almeida Theatre. He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2023. He reunited with his The Book of Mormon co-star Josh Gad for a limited Broadway production of Gutenberg! The Musical! from September 15, 2023, to January 28, 2024.

Rannells published his first book, a memoir titled Too Much Is Not Enough, in 2019. It is a series of essays about his childhood in Omaha, Nebraska, and his years spent in New York leading up to his 2005 Broadway debut in Hairspray. His second book, Uncle of the Year and Other Debatable Triumphs, again a memoir in the form of essays, was released in 2023. He made his directorial debut with season 2 episode 7 of Modern Love, titled “How Do You Remember Me?” He also wrote the episode, adapting an essay he wrote for The New York Times column that appeared in his first memoir.

Andrew Rannells Award Nominations

Throughout his career, Rannells has received multiple prestigious award nominations recognizing his talents on stage and screen. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2011 for his performance in The Book of Mormon. He received his second Tony nomination, for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, in 2017 for his performance as Whizzer in the Broadway revival of Falsettos. In 2023, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Tammy Faye, his London stage debut.

Andrew Rannells Awards Won

Rannells has achieved significant recognition for his contributions to musical theater. He won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2012 as part of the original Broadway cast recording of The Book of Mormon. Prior to his Broadway success, he won Best Actor in a Musical at the B. Iden Payne Awards in September 2002 for his performance as Hedwig at the Zachary Scott Theater Center in Austin, Texas.

Andrew Rannells Family

Andrew Scott Rannells was born to Charlotte and Ronald Rannells in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the fourth of five siblings, with three sisters and an older brother. His father Ronald and mother Charlotte have supported his career throughout his life. While specific details about his siblings beyond the mention of three sisters and an older brother are not widely publicized, his upbringing in Omaha has been documented in his memoirs.

Personal Life

Rannells is gay and has been open about his sexual orientation. He mentioned that he had known about his sexual orientation since high school. He came out to his family when he was eighteen, but he stated that by that point, no one was surprised. He also came out to his theater friends, though not to his classmates at the all-boys Catholic school he attended. He left the Catholic Church upon graduating from Creighton Preparatory School after experiencing sexual abuse by a priest at his high school. Since 2019, he has been in a relationship with actor Tuc Watkins. The two met the year before while playing a couple in the Broadway production of The Boys in the Band. They reprised their roles for Netflix’s film version of the show and also worked together on Black Monday in 2020. Rannells splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.