Nick Cordero

Nicholas Eduardo Alberto Cordero was born on September 17, 1978, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, to a Canadian mother and a father from Costa Rica. He attended Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton before enrolling at Ryerson University in Toronto, which he left after two years to perform with the band Lovemethod. Cordero went on to become a Broadway actor and singer whose stage career spanned from 2009 to 2016. He died on July 5, 2020, at age 41, from complications related to COVID-19, after 95 days of hospitalization at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Cordero's professional acting career began off-Broadway, where he took on the title role in The Toxic Avenger. His Broadway work commenced in 2009, and among his earlier credits was the role of Dennis in Rock of Ages, which he performed both on Broadway in 2012 and on tour. In March 2020, he had relocated to Los Angeles to work on a production of Rock of Ages when he fell ill.

His most celebrated Broadway role came in 2014, when he played Cheech in Bullets Over Broadway. The performance earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, and a Theatre World Award. In March 2016, Cordero joined the Broadway cast of Waitress, portraying the character Earl. He subsequently departed that production to originate the role of Sonny in the Broadway premiere of A Bronx Tale, opening at the Longacre Theatre on November 3, 2016. That performance brought him a second Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical in 2017.

Beyond the stage, Cordero appeared on the CBS drama Blue Bloods, portraying Victor Lugo in two episodes of the show's eighth season in 2017 and reprising the role in a third episode in 2018. On September 3, 2017, he married dancer Amanda Kloots, and the couple's son was born on June 10, 2019.

Cordero was initially diagnosed with pneumonia in late March 2020 while staying at the guest house of his former Bullets Over Broadway co-star Zach Braff. He was admitted to the hospital on March 30, 2020, and was subsequently diagnosed with COVID-19. His condition deteriorated to the point that doctors placed him in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator, and he received dialysis and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. He was also enrolled in a clinical trial for the antiviral drug remdesivir at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. On April 18, 2020, his right leg was amputated due to a blood clot stemming from complications of his illness. By May 1, 2020, he had sustained major lung damage, including holes and scarring in his lungs, and a tracheostomy tube was inserted to assist his breathing. He died on July 5, 2020, and his body was cremated.

Following his death, an effort was launched on July 7, 2020, to rename the Longacre Theatre in Manhattan in his honor. On September 2, 2021, the Broadway cast of Waitress paid tribute to Cordero, with Kloots and the cast performing his single "Live Your Life," and the "Live Your Life Pie" was made a permanent part of the show's set and script. A film of a rooftop performance of a song from Bullets Over Broadway was dedicated to his memory. Blue Bloods memorialized him with an on-screen tribute before the end credits of Season 11, Episode 3. On November 8, 2021, the first Nick Cordero Award scholarship was presented at Toronto Metropolitan University, funded by former classmates and friends and established to be given in perpetuity.