Gerard Canonico

Gerard Canonico is an American actor, singer, and musician born on July 23, 1989, in New Jersey, where he grew up in Matawan and attended Mater Dei High School. He began performing at age six and took up music at ten, starting with voice training before adding drums and guitar. Both of his parents are musicians, and his father works as a music teacher. In 2023, Canonico married actor and musician Devon Meddock.

Canonico's Broadway debut came in 1999, when he originated the role of Gavroche in Les Misérables, a part he held for a year and a half. During that same period, he participated in readings for the off-Broadway musical The Prince and the Pauper at the Lamb's Theatre, where he played the Pauper Tom Canty at the show's opening and for several months afterward. He followed his Broadway run with A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden in 2000 and 2001, playing the role of Jonathan. In 2001, he joined the national tour of Casper the Musical, performing alongside Chita Rivera in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Atlanta, and Dallas. The following year, he portrayed Louis in The King and I at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and in 2004 he played Brett in the off-Broadway production of Children's Letters to God, also at the Lamb's Theatre.

Canonico returned to Broadway when Spring Awakening opened on November 10, 2006, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where he served as an ensemble member and understudy for all male roles except Melchior Gabor. On August 4, 2008, he assumed the role of Moritz, which he played until the production closed on January 18, 2009. He then joined American Idiot, a musical based on the Green Day album, alongside former Spring Awakening castmates Brian Charles Johnson and John Gallagher, Jr. The show premiered in Berkeley, California on September 4, 2009, and Canonico remained with the production as an ensemble member — also understudying two featured ensemble tracks — through its closing on April 24, 2011, when it transferred to and ran on Broadway.

In 2012, Canonico appeared as Goliath in the off-Broadway production of Stand Tall, presented as part of the NYMF Festival. That same year, he portrayed the principal role of Matt in the rock musical Bare at New World Stages, with previews beginning November 19, 2012, and the show running through February 3, 2013. He also portrayed Schindewulf in David Chase's film Not Fade Away, released December 21, 2012, and later appeared as Caleb in the film Stuck in 2017. In June 2014, Canonico appeared in Lin-Manuel Miranda's 15-minute musical 21 Chump Street. In early 2015, he was part of the world premiere of the off-Broadway show Brooklynite at the Vineyard Theatre, which ran from January 30 to March 22, reuniting him with Spring Awakening director Michael Mayer and former castmates Matt Doyle and Remy Zaken.

Canonico created the role of Rich Goranski in the world premiere of Be More Chill at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where it ran from May 30 to June 28, 2015. He served as an understudy for the role of Evan Hansen during Dear Evan Hansen's off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theater from May 1 to May 29, 2016. He returned to Broadway in 2017 with Groundhog Day, Tim Minchin's musical adaptation of the Bill Murray film, which began previews on March 16 at the August Wilson Theatre and officially opened on April 17. Canonico reprised Rich Goranski when Be More Chill returned off-Broadway at Signature Theatre Company in July 2018, then transferred to the Lyceum Theatre for its Broadway premiere in February 2019, closing on August 11, 2019. He subsequently appeared in the Broadway production of Almost Famous.

Outside of theatre, Canonico has maintained an active career as a musician. He was a founding member and lead singer and guitarist of the alternative rock band Taking Chances from Hazlet, New Jersey, which released a self-titled CD in April 2008. He has played drums with Declan Bennett at venues around New York City and can be heard on the recording Record: Breakup. He also serves as lead guitarist and vocalist, and occasionally drummer, for the Blink-182 tribute band The Dude Ranch. On October 31, 2020, he performed drums with the New York City band Lion in the Mane at Takeover Live in Los Angeles, and on November 3, 2020, he officially joined the group. In August 2021, the band changed its name to PARADER, releasing the debut track Whiskey and Water on September 10, 2021, and making their New York City debut as PARADER on September 17, 2021, at the Mercury Lounge.