Anthony Rapp

Anthony Deane Rapp, born on October 26, 1971, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American actor and singer who grew up in nearby Joliet. He was raised by his mother, Mary Lee Rapp, a nurse, following his parents' divorce in 1974. His older brother is playwright, novelist, and filmmaker Adam Rapp, and he also has an older sister. As a child, Rapp participated in community theater and earned awards for singing during junior high school. He attended Joliet West High School and studied at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan before relocating to New York in 1989 to enroll at New York University as a film student, though he left after a single semester.

Rapp's Broadway career began in 1981 with The Little Prince and the Aviator, a musical adapted from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novel, which closed during its preview run. He went on to accumulate a substantial stage career spanning from 1981 to 2015. Among his Broadway credits are Little Shop of Horrors, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, If/Then, and The 24 Hour Plays 2004. In 1986, he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

Rapp is most widely recognized for originating the role of Mark Cohen in Jonathan Larson's musical Rent. His audition, in which he sang R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion," led to a callback in September 1994, and after he was offered the part, Larson wrote new material for the production with Rapp's voice specifically in mind. He performed the role in both the off-Broadway and original Broadway productions, and reprised it in the 2005 film adaptation directed by Chris Columbus, who had previously directed Rapp in Adventures in Babysitting. Rapp returned to the stage version alongside original cast member Adam Pascal from July 30 to October 7, 2007, and joined Pascal and fellow original cast member Gwen Stewart for a national tour beginning January 6, 2009.

In the 1999 Broadway revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Rapp played the title role of Charlie Brown. He later originated the role of Lucas in the musical If/Then, which starred fellow Rent alumna Idina Menzel. The production opened at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., began Broadway previews on March 5, 2014, and officially opened at the Richard Rodgers Theater on March 30 of that year before closing on March 22, 2015. Rapp reprised the role of Lucas in the 2015–2016 national tour alongside Menzel and the principal Broadway cast, though he missed a portion of the original Broadway run in July 2014 due to a knee injury requiring surgery.

Beyond his stage work, Rapp appeared in the 2005 world premiere of Feeling Electric, later developed into the Broadway musical Next to Normal, at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, where he played the Doctor. During Next to Normal's off-Broadway run in 2008, he served as assistant director to Michael Greif, who had also directed him in Rent, and contributed the introduction to the published script of that show.

Rapp's screen credits include the films Dazed and Confused, A Beautiful Mind, School Ties, Road Trip, and Six Degrees of Separation, among others. From 2017 to 2024, he portrayed Commander Paul Stamets on the television series Star Trek: Discovery, a role that marked his first regular television position. The character was notable as the first openly gay character in the Star Trek television franchise.

In 2000, Rapp released a solo CD titled Look Around. He published a memoir in 2006, Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, which he spent six years writing and which addressed his relationship with his mother, who died of cancer in 1997 at the age of 55. He subsequently developed a one-man stage show with music based on the memoir, performing it at venues including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe beginning in 2007. A recording of the show was released on December 11, 2012, by PS Classics.

In October 2017, Rapp alleged in an interview with BuzzFeed that actor Kevin Spacey had made an unwanted sexual advance toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old. At the time, both were appearing in Broadway productions — Rapp in Precious Sons and Spacey in Long Day's Journey into Night. Rapp stated that Spacey invited him to a party and, at the evening's end, physically placed him on a bed and held him down. Rapp had previously discussed the incident in a 2001 interview with The Advocate, though Spacey's name was withheld from publication. A civil case brought in 2022 concluded with a jury finding Spacey not liable.

In a 1997 interview with The Advocate, Rapp described his sexuality as bisexual and has also identified as queer, explaining that the term encompasses a broader range of identities. He has cited his work with Larry Kramer on the play The Destiny of Me as formative in shaping his commitment to activism and living openly. In November 2019, Rapp announced his engagement to Ken Ithiphol; the two have two children, both born via surrogacy. An avid Chicago Cubs fan, Rapp co-hosts the baseball podcast The Clubhouse and threw the first pitch and sang the national anthem at a Cubs game on August 29, 2016.