Ben Platt

Benjamin Schiff Platt was born on September 24, 1993, in Los Angeles, California, the fourth of five children of Marc Platt, a film, television, and theater producer whose credits include Legally Blonde, Into the Woods, La La Land, Mary Poppins Returns, and the musical Wicked and its film adaptation, and Julie Platt, a philanthropist who has served as chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America. Platt and his family are Jewish. His siblings include actor Jonah Platt. He trained at the Adderley School for Performing Arts in Pacific Palisades, where he appeared in productions including Bye Bye Birdie and Into the Woods, and later attended Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, graduating in 2011. He subsequently enrolled at Columbia University, where he briefly participated in the campus a cappella group Nonsequitur, before leaving after seven weeks to fulfill his theatrical commitments.

Platt's performing career began in childhood. At nine, he played Winthrop Paroo in a Hollywood Bowl production of The Music Man alongside Kristin Chenoweth, and at eleven he appeared in a brief national tour of Caroline, or Change, with music by Jeanine Tesori and a book by Tony Kushner. At seventeen he took on the role of Jean Valjean in a Kidz Theater production of Les Misérables. His early work also included the role of Claude Bukowski in Columbia University's production of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical and participation in a workshop of Alice by Heart, by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater.

In 2012, Platt was cast as Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Chicago production of The Book of Mormon, which premiered at the Bank of America Theatre on December 19, 2012, and closed on October 6, 2013. He subsequently reprised the role on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, performing from January 7, 2014, to January 6, 2015. That same year, he became attached to the then-untitled project by Steven Levenson and the songwriting team Pasek and Paul, participating in early workshops and read-throughs. The musical, titled Dear Evan Hansen, began production at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., where it premiered on July 9, 2015, and closed on August 23, 2015, with Platt originating the title role. The production transferred Off-Broadway to Second Stage Theatre in 2016, where previews began on March 26 and the show opened on May 1, selling out its entire limited run.

Dear Evan Hansen moved to Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in December 2016, with Platt again originating the title role. His performance earned him the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical in 2017, making him, at age 23, the youngest solo recipient of that award at the time, a distinction he held until Myles Frost won the award in 2022. The role also brought him a Daytime Emmy and a Grammy Award. Platt played his final performance in the show on November 19, 2017. He later reprised the role of Evan Hansen in the 2021 film adaptation, produced by his father.

Platt returned to Broadway in the 2023 revival of Parade, portraying Leo Frank. The production earned him nominations for both a Tony Award and a Grammy Award. His Broadway career, which spans 2011 to 2024, also includes the concert engagement Ben Platt: Live at the Palace.

Alongside his stage work, Platt built a substantial screen career. He appeared in the Pitch Perfect film series between 2012 and 2017, playing the character Benji Applebaum, a role that earned him a Teen Choice Award nomination in 2013 in the Choice Movie Scene Stealer category. His other film credits include Ricki and the Flash (2015), Run This Town (2019), and Theater Camp (2023), which he also co-wrote. Beginning in 2019, he starred in the Netflix comedy-drama series The Politician, for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination.

Platt signed with Atlantic Records in 2017 and released his debut studio album, Sing to Me Instead, on March 29, 2019, followed by a North American tour that concluded at Radio City Music Hall on September 29, 2019. That concert was recorded and released as Ben Platt Live from Radio City Music Hall on Netflix in May 2020. His second studio album, Reverie, was released on August 13, 2021. After signing with Interscope Records in 2023, he released his third studio album, Honeymind, on May 31, 2024. In 2017, Platt was included on Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.