Jarrod Emick

Jarrod Emick is an American actor born on July 2, 1969, in Fort Eustis, Virginia, whose Broadway career spanned from 1988 to 2006. Raised with his older brother on a farm and ranch in Oral, South Dakota, Emick grew up the son of a career military man. He began his involvement in theater as a young teenager at the Black Hills Playhouse, a summer stock and summer camp program located in Custer State Park and operated by the University of South Dakota. His first stage role there was Billy Ray in On Golden Pond. He went on to attend Hot Springs High School in Hot Springs, South Dakota, and later enrolled at South Dakota State University for two years.

Emick entered professional theater at age 21 as an ensemble performer in a touring production of Les Misérables. His Broadway debut came as a replacement in the role of Chris in Miss Saigon. His work in the touring company of that production in 1993 earned greater comparative acclaim than the Broadway production's lead. The role that brought him widespread recognition was Joe Hardy in the 1994 revival of Damn Yankees, for which he received three major honors: the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical, and the Theatre World Award, all in 1994.

Subsequent Broadway appearances included the role of Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show, Greg Connell in The Boy From Oz, and a role in the musical Ring of Fire. Beyond Broadway, Emick performed in a West End production of The Full Monty and played Michael Wiley in Contact at the North Shore Music Theatre. He portrayed Chad in the Elvis Presley musical All Shook Up and, in 2005, took on the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald in Frank Wildhorn's Waiting for the Moon, opposite Lauren Kennedy. He later played the Doctors in Next to Normal at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater through January 2012, and performed the role of Tick/Mitzi in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the Ogunquit Playhouse from August 10 to September 3, 2016.

Emick also worked in television, appearing in the 1996 TV movie Andersonville and starring in two short-lived Fox series, L.A. Firefighters in 1996 and Pacific Palisades in 1997. He additionally appeared in an episode of It's True. As of 2019, Emick was living in Las Vegas with his wife and two sons, and has maintained a longstanding interest in scuba diving.