Michael James Scott

Michael James Scott, born May 24, 1981, in Baltimore, Maryland, is an American actor and singer whose career has centered on the Broadway stage. The son of Michael and Karen Scott, he grew up in Florida, attending Rock Springs Elementary School in Apopka before moving on to Robinswood and Gotha Middle Schools. He completed his secondary education at Dr. Phillips High School through its Visual and Performing Arts Program. As a child, Scott worked in commercials, television, and musicals while also performing in concerts throughout Central Florida. He trained with Ann Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project for four years, serving two of those years as an assistant. He later earned a BFA from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts program at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Scott's professional stage career began to take shape while he was still in college, when he served as standby for Ben Vereen on the international tour of Fosse from 2003 to 2004. He then joined the first U.S. national tour of Mamma Mia!, playing Eddie from 2004 to 2005. His Broadway debut came in 2005 with the musical All Shook Up, and that same year he appeared off-Broadway opposite Donna McKechnie in Here's to the Public. In 2006, he had a brief run as a swing in Disney's Tarzan on Broadway before returning to Mamma Mia! in a replacement role as Eddie in the Broadway production. The following year, he was part of the original Broadway company of Boublil and Schönberg's The Pirate Queen.

In 2008, Scott participated in the concert cast of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall and subsequently originated the role of Barry Belson in the Las Vegas production of Jersey Boys. He returned to Broadway in 2009 as part of the revival of Hair, in which he covered the roles of Margaret Mead and Hud. He continued with the production into its West End run in 2010, where he also served as associate choreographer. Later that year he joined the original Broadway cast of Elf, remaining with the production until it closed in 2011. He then originated the role of Dr. Gostwana in the Broadway company of The Book of Mormon, taking a break during that run to play Donkey in Shrek the Musical at the Muny in St. Louis before departing the show in 2013. That same year he appeared off-Broadway in Here's to Joe.

Scott joined the original Broadway company of Disney's Aladdin in 2014 as the standby for the Genie and for Babkak. In 2015, he left that production to originate the role of the Minstrel in Something Rotten! on Broadway, a credit that runs through 2016. He subsequently took on the role of the Genie in full, performing it in the original Australian production from 2016 to 2017, on the North American tour in 2018 and again in 2020, on the West End from August 2018 to February 2019, and on Broadway beginning in February 2019. In December 2023, he appeared on Broadway in Gutenberg! The Musical! as the Producer. In 2025, he played Albin in La Cage aux Folles at the Muny.

Beyond the stage, Scott's screen credits include a 2013 episode of The Carrie Diaries, a 2014 episode of the web series Submissions Only, a 2019 episode of Black Monday, and the television movie For Real, on which he also served as producer. He co-hosts the podcast HypeFriend with Ashley Eckstein, which launched in 2025, and in 2026 he appeared in the Scrubs revival series as Nurse Francois Dubois. In his personal life, Scott is married to filmmaker Jeremy Merrifield, whom he had known for approximately twenty years before their wedding.