Jimmy Smagula

Jimmy Smagula is an American actor born James Paul Smagula on January 15, 1976, in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, where he attended and graduated from Lyndhurst High School in 1993. As a child, Smagula studied piano, trumpet, and clarinet alongside private voice lessons. At age 15, he was accepted into the City Kids Repertory company in New York City, where he performed alongside artists including Whitney Houston, Gloria Estefan, and Demi Moore. He went on to earn a BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1997, studying at both CAP 21 and The Classical Studio.

Smagula made his professional acting debut at age 20 in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Man of La Mancha. He also appeared in the American premiere of Children of Eden at Paper Mill Playhouse and is featured on that production's cast album. Additional regional credits include Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Ahmanson Theater, where he appeared in the ensemble and performed the role of Beadle Bamford opposite Kelsey Grammer and Christine Baranski, and a production of the same show at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, starring Norm Lewis, in which he again played the Beadle.

Smagula made his Broadway debut at age 24 in the ensemble of The Full Monty in 2000, during which he performed the principal role of Dave Bukatinsky more than three dozen times opposite both Patrick Wilson and Will Chase. In 2002, he appeared in the Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha starring Brian Stokes Mitchell. He subsequently understudied the role of Ubaldo Piangi on the Second National Tour of The Phantom of the Opera, played the role on the Third National Tour, and later understudied the role on Broadway for one year. Smagula appeared in Manhattan Theatre Club's production of To Be or Not To Be at the Friedman Theater on Broadway, directed by Casey Nicholaw, and played Chef Louis in Disney's The Little Mermaid on Broadway for ten weeks. In 2010, he joined the Broadway company of Billy Elliot: The Musical, where he performed the principal role of George more than 50 times. He later appeared in A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical on Broadway. His most recent Broadway credit is the revival of Spamalot at the St. James Theatre, where he plays Sir Bedevere and other roles, having first performed the role in the Kennedy Center production.

Outside of Broadway, Smagula starred as Rocky in the Encores! production of Damn Yankees! at New York City Center in 2008, alongside Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski. Ben Brantley of the New York Times noted that Smagula "harmonizes sweetly" on the song "Heart." From 2019 to 2020, he played Monsieur Thénardier on the national tour of Les Misérables. In 2022, he played Harry the Horse in Guys and Dolls at The Eisenhower Theater, and in 2023 he played the dual role of Mr./Billy Webster in Sunday in the Park with George at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Smagula has also maintained an active screen career. In 2005, he appeared as Sal Iacuzzo on HBO's The Sopranos and appeared in the Michael Bay-directed film The Island as well as the film musical The Producers. He appeared in the 2010 film Step Up 3D and the 2017 film Rebel in the Rye, written and directed by Danny Strong and starring Kevin Spacey and Nicholas Hoult, in which Smagula played John Woodburn. His television credits include Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, Bones, Rizzoli and Isles, Hot in Cleveland, Jessie, Betty White's Off Their Rockers, Sam and Cat, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Community.