Cory English

Cory English is an American actor born in 1968 in Rochester, New York, where he grew up as the youngest of four boys in a blue-collar family. He attended Wayne Central High School in Ontario, New York, and later lived in New York City for several years. His career has spanned Broadway, the West End, national tours, film, and television.

English's Broadway career ran from 1989 to 2009 and included productions such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hello, Dolly!, Damn Yankees, Guys and Dolls, Gypsy, and Chicago. Among his later Broadway credits was the role of Igor in the 2008 production of Young Frankenstein, the Mel Brooks musical, in which he replaced Christopher Fitzgerald. He subsequently reprised the role on a United States national tour alongside former Broadway castmates Roger Bart and Shuler Hensley. In 2017, English returned to the part of Igor when Young Frankenstein transferred to London's Garrick Theatre.

His work in the West End has included Chicago and Guys and Dolls, in which he played Benny Southstreet. English also appeared in The Producers, the other Mel Brooks musical, performing the role of Max Bialystock in the West End production at the Palace Theatre in Manchester in 2007 and returning to the role for UK national tours in 2014 and 2015. In 2023, he succeeded Roger Bart as Doctor Emmett Brown in the West End production of Back to the Future: The Musical, having previously covered the role briefly during Bart's absence.

Beyond the stage, English worked on another Mel Brooks project, Young Frankenstein, and in 2013 appeared at Portland Center Stage in Somewhere in Time. He starred as Maître D' in the 2019 film Cats and provides the voice of The Great Raven in the animated series Hilda. In October 2008, he made a brief uncredited appearance in the Channel 4 mockumentary Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice, playing a helium balloon-inhaling singer performing Mika's "Grace Kelly."