Kevin Cahoon

Kevin Cahoon is an American actor, director, writer, and singer-songwriter born on July 21, 1971, in Houston, Texas. His Broadway career spans from 1993 to 2023, and he received both a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical for his work in Shucked in 2023.

Cahoon's performing life began unusually early. At six years old, he worked as what he billed "The World's Youngest Rodeo Clown," appearing throughout the Texas and Oklahoma Rodeo Circuits, including multiple seasons at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Texas State High School Finals Rodeo. That work earned him a Letter of Citation from then-Texas Governor Bill Clements. By age ten he had shifted into theatrical work, appearing at Houston venues including Theatre Under the Stars, Stages, The Main Street Theatre, and The Houston Grand Opera. Productions during that period included the Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse musical Chaplin, Mame opposite Marilyn Maye, and Christopher Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You at the Tower Theatre. He apprenticed with Theatre Under the Stars' Humphrey's School of Musical Theatre, appeared in commercials, and performed at the opening ceremonies of Houston's Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. He is included in the book Theatre Under the Stars: Stars In Your Eyes. At thirteen, Cahoon won the Teen Male Vocalist Grand Championship on the television program Star Search and subsequently toured that summer in The Stars of Star Search. He completed his secondary education at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts before earning a BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts at Circle in the Square.

Following graduation, Cahoon made his Broadway debut in The Who's Tommy. His subsequent Broadway credits include Ed the Hyena in Julie Taymor's production of The Lion King, George in The Wedding Singer, The Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a role in the revival of The Rocky Horror Show. While performing in The Lion King, he stepped away to cover the eighth show of the week for John Cameron Mitchell in the title role of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at The Jane Street Theater Off-Broadway, eventually taking over the role entirely. He went on to star as Hedwig in Boston, at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and in an extended eight-month run at The Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. He appears in the documentary film Whether You Like It Or Not: The True Story of Hedwig and joined Mitchell and composer Stephen Trask on The Origin of Love Tour at Town Hall in New York City. Most recently on Broadway, Cahoon played Peanut in Shucked, which opened on April 4, 2023, at the Nederlander Theatre, earning him his Tony and Drama Desk nominations. He has also appeared on the Tony Awards broadcasts in 1998, 2000, 2006, and 2023, and serves as a voting member of the Tony Award Nominating Committee. He is also part of the producing team for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, scheduled to open on Broadway in spring 2026.

Off-Broadway, Cahoon played Phil D'Armano in Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party at the Manhattan Theatre Club and starred opposite Matthew Broderick in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Foreigner, for which he received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor. Additional Off-Broadway credits include The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World at Playwrights Horizons and the revival of Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive at Second Stage. For New York City Center's Encores! series, he appeared as Woof in Hair and Peter in Babes in Arms. Regional work has taken him to The Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Guthrie Theatre, The Muny, The Bucks County Playhouse, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, and NY Stage and Film, among others. At The Old Globe, he appeared in Kathleen Marshall's production of Love's Labor's Lost, for which he received a San Diego Theatre Critics Circle nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play, and portrayed the Sheriff of Nottingham in Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood!. He originated the role of Hans Christian Andersen in the American premiere of Stephen Schwartz's My Fairytale for California's PCPA and originated the role of Jr. Jr. in Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical at the Dallas Theater Center, written by Robert Horn, Shane McAnally, and Brandy Clark. Other regional credits include The Imaginary Invalid at Bard Summerscape alongside Peter Dinklage, Minsky's at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, and an all-male production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum directed by Jessica Stone. He portrayed Trinculo in Barry Edelstein's production of The Tempest with the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Most recently in regional theater, Cahoon played Melvyn Snyder in Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover's production of Chez Joey at Arena Stage, and in November and December 2024 he played Albin opposite Cheyenne Jackson in La Cage aux Folles at Pasadena Playhouse, directed by Sam Pinkleton. Cahoon appears on the original cast recordings of Shucked, The Lion King, The Rocky Horror Show, The Wild Party, Babes in Arms, The Wedding Singer, and The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World.

On television, Cahoon portrayed Gunther on FX's The Beauty and Earl Clark on FOX's Monarch, beginning in September 2022. He played Hugo across seasons two and three of A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix, Bobby Barnes in season three of Glow on Netflix, Rueben Lundgren on Nurse Jackie for Showtime, and Jon-Jon on Modern Family on ABC. Additional television credits include Ross Rothman on Six Degrees, Kermit Jones on The Royale, and guest appearances on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Elementary, Odd Mom Out, Black Box, The Good Wife, The Mentalist, CSI, Franklin and Bash, NCIS, Canterbury's Law, Hope and Faith, Ed, Law and Order, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. His film work includes So Cold the River, I Am Michael, Disney's Mars Needs Moms, Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Paul Reiser's The Thing About My Folks, Adrienne Shelly's Sudden Manhattan, Michael Knowle's One Night, and W.E., directed by Madonna. He also appeared in the Woody Allen short Sounds From a Town I Love, created for VH-1's Concert for NYC following September 11, 2001. Cahoon is a member of the Television Academy.

As a director, Cahoon helmed critically noted virtual and live productions of Terrence McNally's It's Only a Play and Larry Shue's The Nerd, both for The George Street Playhouse. He directed the 2017 New York Theatre Workshop Gala, featuring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rachel Dratch, Ben Platt, Patti LuPone, and Christine Ebersole, and returned to direct NYTW galas in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. For Ars Nova Theatre in New York City, he directed developmental productions including Toe Pick: The Complete Ice Capades of Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, Grifftopia, and Tastiskank, the last of which went on to win the Aspen Comedy Festival. He also directed six consecutive productions for the Bay Area Houston Ballet and Theatre, work for which he received the Jete Society Honor in 2011.

As a musician, Cahoon leads the New York-based band Kevin Cahoon and Ghetto Cowboy, which has performed at venues including CBGB's, Don Hill's, Ars Nova, Joe's Pub, and Irving Plaza, sharing bills with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and Justin Bond. The band's debut album is titled Doll. Cahoon is also featured in the documentary Squeezebox, which chronicles New York City's downtown music scene.