Hayden Tee

Hayden Tee is a New Zealand actor, singer, and makeup artist whose career spans musical theatre, opera, concert, and cabaret across New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. Born in New Zealand, Tee grew up in Maungaturoto before relocating to Auckland at age sixteen. At eighteen, he was invited to Sydney by Avigail Herman to train at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. He also studied voice with tenor Kenneth Cornish in Auckland.

Tee's early professional work included a residency at the Court Theatre in Christchurch in 2001, where he appeared as Grumio in Kiss Me, Kate and as Wayne in Kiwifruits II. In February 2003, he performed the role of Frances in Campion Decent's Three Winters Green at the Stables Theatre in Sydney, earning favorable notices from the Sydney Morning Herald. That same year, his late-night chat and cabaret show Muftee opened at the Stables Theatre in May, was described by the Sydney Morning Herald as Australia's cult cabaret hit, and extended from a planned three-week engagement to a seven-month run. He had previously won the New York Award at the 2002 Sydney Cabaret Convention, which brought him to New York to perform, and his debut solo show, Me to a Tee, played in Sydney, Auckland, and New York. His self-titled debut album was voted among the top five male vocal releases of 2003 by cabarethotlineonline.com. In December 2003, he performed Hayden Tee and Muftee at Mamma Rose's in New York, where the show was described by New York Post columnist Liz Smith as wild and zany, and he performed alongside Stephen Schwartz, John Bucchino, John Tartaglia, Julie Wilson, and Brent Barrett.

In May 2005, Tee played Lt. Joe Cable in South Pacific, directed by John Diedrich and Jo Anne Robinson at the Adelaide Festival Centre, a performance for which he received an Adelaide Theatre Guide Award nomination for Best Individual Male Performance. Also in 2005, he was selected as one of twelve finalists in the BBC Voice of Musical Theatre competition in Cardiff, Wales. He subsequently joined the London production of Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre as Marius Pontmercy, including the show's 20th anniversary performance on 8 October 2005. Returning to Australia in late 2006, he took the leading role of Thomas Andrews in the Australian premiere of Titanic in Sydney, earning an Aussietheatre Best Actor in a Musical nomination. Prior to that production, he participated in the workshop of the new Australian musical Snugglepot and Cuddlepie as Cuddlepie, directed by Neil Armfield. In 2007, he appeared alongside Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the opera Dead Man Walking, playing Father Grenville. He also performed the roles of Gus the Theatre Cat, Growltiger the Opera Cat, and Bustopher Jones in the Really Useful Group's world touring production of Cats, and received a 2006 Glugs Award for Best Cabaret Performer.

Tee played Professor Bhaer in Little Women for Kookaburra, The National Musical Theatre Company, during their 2008/2009 subscription season, a role that earned him a 2009 Glugs Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2008, he appeared at the Metropolitan Room in New York City in his self-titled one-man show. The following year, he appeared as Freddy Einsford Hill in Opera Australia's production of My Fair Lady in Auckland. In 2010, he played Simon Stride in the Taiwan tour of Jekyll and Hyde, serving as Brad Little's alternate in the title roles, and subsequently relocated to the United States. His American regional credits include The Wolf and Cinderella's Prince in Into the Woods at the Alliance Theater Company under director Susan V. Booth, King Arthur in Camelot at Pittsburgh Public Theatre directed by Ted Pappas, Freddy Einsford Hill in My Fair Lady at North Shore Music Theatre directed by Charles Repole, Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in Peter Pan directed by Michael Lichtefeld, Jack in Being Earnest at the New Works festival in California directed by Robert Kelly, and Edward Rutledge in 1776 at Pittsburgh Public Theater in early 2013.

Tee returned to Les Misérables in 2014, this time as Inspector Javert, in the world tour of the production. He reprised the role in the Broadway revival in 2016 and in the West End in 2017, winning the Colleen Clifford Memorial Award for Best Actor in a Music Theatre at the 2015 Glugs for his portrayal of Javert. His Broadway appearances span 2014 to 2022 and include the play Julie as well as Les Misérables. In 2018 and 2019, he played Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical in the West End, later reprising the role in the international tour. In 2019, he released the album Face to Face on Broadway Records, a musical theatre recording featuring a song with John Owen-Jones and arrangements by Nigel Ubrihien. He played Lance Du Bois in the Australian production of & Juliet in 2023 and reprised the role in the Broadway production in March and November 2025. In the summer of 2025, he returned to the role of Javert in the World Arena Concert Tour of Les Misérables and was set to play the character again in the North American tour beginning in January 2026. Outside of performance, Tee serves as a creative director of Inglot Cosmetics.