Marc Kudisch

Marc Kudisch is an American stage actor born on September 22, 1966, in Hackensack, New Jersey, where he was raised in a Jewish family before his family relocated to Plantation, Florida. He initially enrolled at Florida Atlantic University as a political science student before transferring to theatre, and after completing his degree he moved to New York City. His professional career began with a national tour of Bye Bye Birdie, produced by Barry Weissler and directed by Tommy Tune and Ann Reinking, in which Kudisch played Conrad Birdie. He later reprised that role in a television adaptation of the musical alongside Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams.

Kudisch's Broadway career spans from 1991 to 2025 and encompasses a wide range of productions. His stage credits include Floyd Collins, in which he played Lee Collins; Girl from the North Country, where he portrayed Mr. Burke; Finding Neverland, in which he took on the dual role of Charles Frohman and Captain Hook; and Assassins, where he played the Proprietor. Additional Broadway appearances include Thoroughly Modern Millie as Trevor Graydon, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Baron Bomburst, Bells Are Ringing as Jeff Moss, The Scarlet Pimpernel as Chauvelin, High Society as George Kittredge, Disney's Beauty and the Beast as Gaston, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Reuben. He also appeared in The Great Society. His work in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and 9 to 5 each earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, with the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang nomination coming in 2005 and the 9 to 5 nomination in 2009. Those productions also brought him nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk Award.

In 9 to 5, Kudisch played Franklin Hart Jr., the sexist, egotistical boss originally portrayed on film by Dabney Coleman. The production, which featured music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and was directed by Joe Mantello, starred Allison Janney, Megan Hilty, and Stephanie J. Block. It began its pre-Broadway run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles on September 21, 2008, before opening at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway on April 30, 2009, and closing on September 6, 2009. Kudisch also appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of The Apple Tree alongside Kristin Chenoweth and Brian d'Arcy James, and starred as Slick Follicle in City Center Encores! production of Girl Crazy in November 2009.

Beyond Broadway, Kudisch performed at the New York City Opera in 2003 as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music opposite Juliet Stevenson and Jeremy Irons, and reprised the role in a 2004 Los Angeles Opera staging with Victor Garber and Judith Ivey. At the Public Theater, he appeared in Michael John LaChiusa's The Wild Party as Jackie and in See What I Wanna See. His off-Broadway work also includes The Thing About Men, the Lucille Lortel Award-nominated The Glorious Ones, the improvisational comedy Noo Yawk Tawk, and The Minister's Wife, a musical with music by Josh Schmidt, lyrics by Jan Tranen, and a book by Austin Pendleton based on George Bernard Shaw's Candida. In regional theatre, he originated the role of Vincent van Gogh in LaChiusa's The Highest Yellow, and in June 2007 starred as Darryl van Horne in the American premiere of The Witches of Eastwick at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. He also performed a one-man show, What Makes Me Tick, beginning in July 2011.

Kudisch's television work includes recurring roles on House of Cards as Henry Mitchell, Billions as Dr. Gus, and As the World Turns as Judge Burke and Radio Announcer. He appeared on Smash as himself playing Darryl F. Zanuck, and had roles on Blue Bloods, Gossip Girl, Person of Interest, Mindhunter, The Blacklist, Condor, The Good Fight, The Equalizer, and Law & Order: Organized Crime, among others. On film, he appeared in Unsane in 2018 as a bank manager and in Late Night in 2019 as Billy Kastner. Earlier in his career he served as a spokesperson for Toyota in the United States and played a kinky lawyer on Sex and the City.

In his personal life, Kudisch became a baritone in the early 1990s after working with a new vocal coach, having trained in opera after college rather than before. He and actress Kristin Chenoweth were engaged from 1998 to 2001. He began a relationship with Broadway dancer and choreographer Shannon Lewis in 2003, and the two married in 2011. In 2016, Kudisch directed a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for 3D Theatricals, with Lewis serving as choreographer.