Mike Faist

Mike Faist is an American actor born on January 5, 1992, in Gahanna, Ohio. Adopted by Julia and Kurt Faist, whose family operates a real estate business, he developed an early interest in performing arts after watching Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in MGM films, particularly Kelly's work in Singin' in the Rain. At age five, he persuaded his parents to enroll him in dance classes and began auditioning for community and children's theater in Columbus, where he appeared in productions including The Wizard of Oz, Oliver!, and Alice in Wonderland. During his time at Gahanna Lincoln High School, he performed in productions of Grease, playing Danny Zuko, and Jesus Christ Superstar, playing Simon. At seventeen, he met his birth mother, whose family consists largely of pilots; his eldest half-brother taught him to fly, and Faist subsequently obtained his pilot's license.

Graduating high school a year early in 2009, Faist relocated to New York City to pursue a stage career and enrolled in the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, leaving after two semesters. During his early auditioning period, he sold tickets in Times Square and, on his first professional acting job in White Christmas, earned $150 per week while collecting food stamps and living in the back of a McDonald's parking lot.

Faist began his professional acting career in 2011, originating the role of Morris Delancey in the regional premiere of Newsies at the Paper Mill Playhouse. When the production transferred to Broadway in 2012, he both reprised his role and understudied the lead role of Jack Kelly, requiring him to alternate between the two characters in rapid succession during the opening number. Newsies earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical at the 66th Tony Awards. Also in 2012, Faist made his feature film debut in the coming-of-age drama The Unspeakable Act.

In 2014, he starred as Rhys Thurston in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Off-Broadway play Appropriate, which drew critical acclaim from New York Times chief theater critic Ben Brantley. The following year, he co-starred opposite Peter Dinklage in an Off-Broadway production of A Month in the Country, playing tutor Aleksei Belyaev, and appeared in the short film Yellow and the films Touched with Fire and The Grief of Others.

Faist's Broadway breakthrough came when he originated the role of Connor Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen, developing the character from the workshop stage through the musical's Broadway transfer in 2016. His portrayal of the suicidal high school student earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical in 2017. Together with his castmates, he won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program for a performance of You Will Be Found on the Today Show. In 2018, he also contributed his voice to the audiobook of Val Emmich's Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, alongside cast members Ben Levi Ross and Mallory Bechtel.

During the years following Dear Evan Hansen, Faist appeared in a 2017 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Glenn Lawrence and in a 2018 episode of Deception. That same year, he starred in the Second Stage Theater production of Days of Rage as Spence and appeared in the horror-fantasy film Wildling opposite Bel Powley, which premiered at South by Southwest. In 2020, he played Arthur in the independent drama The Atlantic City Story.

In 2021, Faist co-starred as Dodge Mason in the Amazon teen drama thriller Panic, earning a nomination from the Critics Choice Association for Best Actor in an Action Series at the 2nd Critics' Choice Super Awards, though the series was canceled after one season. That same year, he took on his first major film role as Riff, leader of the Jets gang and Tony's best friend, in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of West Side Story. The performance earned him a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He subsequently played Jack Twist in a West End production of Brokeback Mountain in 2023 and starred in the romantic sports film Challengers in 2024.