George Abud

George Abud is a Lebanese-American actor, playwright, and musician born on October 30, 1990, in Detroit, Michigan, to Lebanese-American parents Gary and Paulette Abud. He studied theatre acting at Wayne State University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts, before relocating to New York City in 2012.

Abud's first New York stage appearance came in 2014 in a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro, directed by John Doyle at Classic Stage Company. His Broadway debut followed in 2015, when he joined the cast of The Visit, John Kander and Fred Ebb's final musical, which starred Chita Rivera and Roger Rees. Around this period, Abud also performed an oud-accompanied adaptation of "Children and Art" from Sunday in the Park with George at New York City Center, an occasion at which Stephen Sondheim was present in the audience.

Abud originated the role of Camal, a violinist, in The Band's Visit, appearing in both the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of the show. His performance drew attention for its comic timing and musical skill, particularly in the number "Itzik's Lullaby," in which he played the oud. His work connected to an NBC Today Show performance of the production earned him a Daytime Emmy Award. After departing The Band's Visit in late 2018, he appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, starring Raúl Esparza, at Classic Stage Company.

In 2019, Abud portrayed Lewis Chapman in a musical adaptation of August Rush, directed by John Doyle at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, Illinois, and subsequently appeared in Annie Get Your Gun, directed by Sarna Lapine at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York. In 2020, he starred as Nerd Face in the Off-Broadway pop musical Emojiland at the Duke on 42nd Street, a performance that earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.

Abud first played Italian Futurist Filippo Marinetti in the new musical Lempicka, with music and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould, at La Jolla Playhouse in 2022, directed by Rachel Chavkin. In early 2023, he appeared in the world premiere of the musical Cornelia Street at the Atlantic Theater Company, opposite Norbert Leo Butz. That same spring, he performed at Birdland Jazz Club alongside duo partner Katrina Lenk in an encore of Abud & Lenk: Swung. He also portrayed Russian lyric poet Aleksandr Blok in the New York debut of Elizabeth Swados's The Beautiful Lady, directed by Anne Bogart at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.

In 2024, Abud returned to Broadway reprising the role of Marinetti in Lempicka, with New York Times chief theater critic Jesse Green describing his performance as excellent. Later that year, it was confirmed that Abud would appear as Duane in the crime thriller film Caught Stealing, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, and Regina King. His original play with music, The Ruins, is scheduled to receive its world premiere in September 2025 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Abud will also perform in the production alongside Sydney Shepherd. The work, which unfolds across eight movements, explores how music can express what language cannot, and will reopen the Guthrie's Dowling Studio.