Julio Agustin

Julio Agustín, born Julio Agustín Matos, Jr., in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents, is an American actor, director, author, and recipient of the Broadway Legacy Robe. He began his musical education playing piano for his high school choir, through which he developed a passion for musical theatre. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre from Florida State University, a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Columbia University, and a second MFA in Directing from Pennsylvania State University.

Agustín launched his professional performing career between 1994 and 1996 as a swing in the national tour of Kiss of the Spider Woman, where he worked alongside Chita Rivera. His Broadway debut followed shortly after, when he joined the original Broadway cast of Steel Pier in 1997 as a swing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. He returned to Broadway in 1999 as a company member of Fosse at the Broadhurst Theatre, a production on which he worked until 2001 alongside Elizabeth Parkinson and Scott Wise. That same year, he performed in the revival of Bells Are Ringing at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, then known as the Plymouth Theatre, with Faith Prince.

After completing his MFA in Acting at Columbia University from 2001 to 2002, Agustín performed the role of Che opposite Felicia Finley in Evita at Maine's Ogunquit Playhouse in 2003. Later that year, he originated the role of Rome Tome in the Broadway production of Never Gonna Dance at the Broadhurst Theatre, working with Nancy Lemenager and Noah Racey. He appeared in Chicago on Broadway on two separate occasions: once opposite Bebe Neuwirth, and again from 2007 to 2008 at the Shubert Theatre, where he played Fred Casely as an understudy and worked with both Neuwirth and Bianca Marroquín. From 2010 to 2011, Agustín played Ambite in the original Broadway cast of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at the Belasco Theatre, a production starring Patti LuPone and Sherie Rene Scott, for which he received the Broadway Legacy Robe.

Beyond Broadway, Agustín appeared in the films Center Stage and The Producers, and has worked in voice-overs, commercials, and commercial print. His regional stage credits include Evita at the Ogunquit Playhouse and, in the summer of 2016, In the Heights at both the Hangar Theatre and the Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York.

Following the completion of his MFA in Directing from Pennsylvania State University in 2007, Agustín built a parallel career as a director and choreographer. That year he directed and choreographed Pennsylvania Center Stage's production of Movin' On, previously titled Out of Line. In 2008, he directed and choreographed Whistle Down the Wind at the North Carolina Theatre. In 2012, he directed Sweet Charity at The New Haarlem Arts Theatre, a production that earned an Audelco Award for best choreography, credited to choreographer Lanie Munro.

Agustín is the author of The Professional Actor's Handbook: From Casting Call to Curtain Call, now in its second edition, as well as the chapter "Navigating the Industry for Latinx Actors" in the volume Latinx Actor Training, and multiple scholarly articles addressing diversity in musical theatre. He operates Agustin Consulting and Theatrical Services, LLC, a consulting business that guides professional actors through the performing arts industry. He is also an award-nominated director and choreographer.