Joshua Henry

Joshua Anthony Charlton Henry, born September 2, 1984, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is a Canadian-American actor and singer whose Broadway career has spanned from 2008 to 2025. Raised in Miami, Henry originally intended to pursue accounting, following the professional path of his mother. His trajectory shifted after he was cast as Harold Hill in a high school production of The Music Man at Florida Bible Christian School. He subsequently studied theatre at the University of Miami, graduating in 2006.

Henry launched his professional career that same year, making his acting debut as Judas and John the Baptist in a Paper Mill Playhouse production of Godspell in Milburn, New Jersey. A planned 2008 Broadway transfer of that production, which would have featured him opposite Gavin Creel and Diana DeGarmo, was ultimately cancelled. He appeared in the Off-Broadway run of In the Heights in 2007 before rejoining the cast for its Broadway production, with the full ensemble earning a Drama Desk Award and an ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus from Actors' Equity Association. He also appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Serenade in December 2007, contributed original music to the Off-Broadway musical Shafrika, The White Girl at the Vineyard Theatre in 2009, and that same year played the Tin Man in The Wiz at New York City Center as part of the Encores! series.

Henry joined the original Broadway cast of the Green Day musical American Idiot in March 2010, playing the role of Favorite Son through July of that year, then returning to the role from March to April 2011. Between those two stints, he took on the role of Haywood Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb. The production earned Henry his first Tony Award nomination, for Best Actor in a Musical, though the award ultimately went to Norbert Leo Butz for Catch Me If You Can. The Scottsboro Boys closed within a month of opening on Broadway, and Henry later reprised the role at the Ahmanson Theatre in May and June 2013.

Henry portrayed Jake in the American Repertory Theater's production of Porgy and Bess, which began at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts in August 2011 before transferring to the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway, where it ran from January through September 2012. In 2014, he played Flick opposite Sutton Foster in the Roundabout Theatre production of Violet, earning his second Tony nomination, this time for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. He also performed in a one-night concert of Parade at Lincoln Center, playing Jim Conley alongside Jeremy Jordan, Ramin Karimloo, and Laura Benanti, and starred as Jamie opposite Cynthia Erivo in a benefit concert of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years on September 12, 2016, with proceeds benefiting the Brady Center. In 2016, he appeared on Broadway as Noble Sissle in Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed at the Music Box Theatre.

Henry originated the roles of Hercules Mulligan, James Madison, and King George III in the 2013 Vassar College workshop of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. He went on to star as Aaron Burr in the Chicago production of Hamilton at the CIBC Theatre in 2016 and 2017, then reprised the role in the first United States national tour, playing engagements in San Francisco and Los Angeles. On November 18, 2020, he was announced as reprising the role of Burr in a special performance with the Hamilton cast for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In 2018, Henry starred as Billy Bigelow alongside Jessie Mueller in the third Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Previews began February 28, with the production officially opening April 12 and closing September 16 after 181 performances. The role brought him his third Tony nomination, for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. In late 2021, Henry became the first African-American actor to play Dr. Jim Pomatter in the Broadway restaging of Waitress, joining the cast on November 29 alongside Ciara Renée as Jenna. The production closed December 20 due to COVID-19 cases in the cast. He received a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for the portrayal.

Henry joined the second Broadway revival of Into the Woods in 2022 as Rapunzel's Prince, a production that also featured Sara Bareilles, Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, Brian d'Arcy James, and Patina Miller among others. He departed the cast on October 9 to film Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration, in which he played Gaston, and was temporarily replaced by Andy Karl. Henry returned to Into the Woods following Karl's run and remained with the production through its final performance on January 8, 2023. In September 2025, he began starring as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the second Broadway revival of Ragtime, a role he had previously performed Off-Broadway at New York City Center. Henry's father, Zadoc Henry, was a teacher at Calvary Christian Academy in Winnipeg.