Harvey Fierstein

Harvey Forbes Fierstein, born June 6, 1952, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter recognized for his distinctively gravelly voice, which results from an overdeveloped vestibular fold in his vocal cords that produces what is effectively a double voice. The son of Jacqueline Harriet Fierstein, a school librarian, and Irving Fierstein, a handkerchief manufacturer, he grew up in a Conservative Jewish household alongside his brother Ronald. Before puberty he sang as a soprano in a professional boys' choir. He later graduated from the High School of Art and Design and earned a BFA from the Pratt Institute in 1973.

Fierstein began his theater career as a founding member of The Gallery Players of Park Slope and was subsequently cast in Andy Warhol's only play, Pork. His early stage work also included a transvestite role in his own Flatbush Tosca, a 300-year-old woman, Lillian Russell, and 26 other parts in Ronald Tavel's My Fetus Lived on Amboy Street. He additionally performed a drag routine in Greenwich Village that included an impersonation of Ethel Merman singing "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun."

His breakthrough came with Torch Song Trilogy, which he both wrote and starred in, first off-Broadway alongside a young Matthew Broderick and then on Broadway in 1982 with Estelle Getty and Fisher Stevens. The Broadway production earned him two Tony Awards — Best Play and Best Actor in a Play — making him the first openly gay actor to win the latter honor. The production also brought him two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, as well as the Theatre World Award. A film adaptation of Torch Song Trilogy earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead.

Fierstein followed that success by writing the book for La Cage aux Folles in 1983, winning a third Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and receiving a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Book. During his acceptance speech he acknowledged his male lover, a moment Entertainment Weekly later described as still startling to many viewers. He also narrated the 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, for which he received a News and Documentary Emmy Award. His playwriting credits from the decade include Spookhouse in 1984, Safe Sex in 1987, and Forget Him in 1988. His 1988 collaboration with Peter Allen, Legs Diamond, closed after 72 previews and 64 performances, though its songs were later incorporated into Peter Allen's biographical musical The Boy from Oz.

On Broadway, Fierstein appeared in productions including Hair, Safe Sex, Legs Diamond, La Cage aux Folles, A Catered Affair, and Hairspray. His portrayal of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray in 2002 won him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, his fourth Tony overall. He later replaced Alfred Molina as Tevye in the 2004 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof and reprised that role in December 2009 on the national tour, stepping in for an injured Chaim Topol. In February 2011, he replaced Douglas Hodge as Albin/Zaza in the Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles, which ran until May 1, 2011, completing 433 performances and 15 previews.

Fierstein wrote the book for A Catered Affair, in which he also starred. After tryouts at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in September 2007, the production opened on Broadway on April 17, 2008, received 12 Drama Desk Award nominations, and won the Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical. He subsequently wrote the book for Newsies, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, which opened on Broadway in March 2012 and earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical. His book for Kinky Boots, featuring music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in April 2013 following a fall 2012 run in Chicago. The production received thirteen Tony Award nominations and won six, including Best Musical. His play Casa Valentina, produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, opened in April 2014 directed by Joe Mantello with a cast that included Patrick Page, John Cullum, and Mare Winningham.

Fierstein's television and film work spans several decades. He appeared in Mrs. Doubtfire in 1993 alongside Robin Williams, Sally Field, and Pierce Brosnan, and in Independence Day. He voiced the character of Yao in Disney's animated feature Mulan and later reprised the role for the direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II. In 1990 he voiced Karl, Homer Simpson's assistant, in the Simpsons episode "Simpson and Delilah," and in 1992 he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Mark Newberger in Cheers. In 1994 he became the first gay actor to play a principal gay character in a television series when he appeared as fashion designer Dennis Sinclair in the CBS series Daddy's Girls. He voiced Elmer in the 1999 HBO special based on his children's book The Sissy Duckling, which won the Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation. He wrote the teleplay for the NBC broadcast of The Wiz Live! in 2015 and both wrote the teleplay for and starred in the 2016 NBC broadcast of Hairspray Live!, which featured Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Kristin Chenoweth, and Martin Short. He also reprised the role of Edna Turnblad for the Hairspray Live! television special.

Fierstein wrote and starred in Bella Bella, a solo monologue about New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug, which premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage One at City Center on October 1, 2019, directed by Kimberly Senior. His memoir, I Was Better Last Night, was published on March 1, 2022, and became a New York Times bestseller. In April 2016, he and Kinky Boots collaborator Cyndi Lauper were honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Fierstein was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007 and received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2025. He has also authored op-eds for The New York Times and contributed to the PBS series In the Life.

Fierstein is openly gay and Jewish. He has stated that although he does not believe in God, he prays three or four times each day. He has spoken publicly about a struggle with alcohol abuse and, in a 2022 interview, disclosed that he stopped drinking following a suicide attempt in 1996. He reportedly dated journalist Ted Casablanca from 1987 to 1992.