Roger Bart

Roger Bart is an American actor born on September 29, 1962, in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he grew up before relocating to Bernardsville, New Jersey. The son of a teacher and a chemical engineer, Bart graduated from Bernards High School in 1980 and was later inducted into the school's hall of fame. He earned a BFA in Acting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in 1985. His uncle is journalist Peter Bart.

Bart made his Broadway debut that same year, 1985, playing Tom Sawyer in Big River. His stage career has spanned nearly four decades, with credits including Jonathan in the Alan Menken and Tim Rice musical King David, Harlequin in The Triumph of Love, and appearances in The Frogs at Lincoln Center, which reunited him with Nathan Lane and Susan Stroman. In 1996 and 1997, he appeared as Bud Frump in the national tour of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

His portrayal of Snoopy in the 1999 Broadway revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown brought him both a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. He subsequently joined the original Broadway production of The Producers, playing Carmen Ghia, a role that earned him a second Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk nomination. He later took on the role of Leo Bloom in the same production. In 2010, Bart and Brad Oscar reprised their respective roles of Leo Bloom and Max Bialystock in a production of The Producers at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, which ran from August 23 through 29. Bart also originated the role of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in the Broadway production of Young Frankenstein, which opened in November 2007 following a run in Seattle. He had originally portrayed Igor in the show's workshop read-through. Beginning in September 2009, he reprised the role of Frankenstein alongside former Broadway co-stars Shuler Hensley and Cory English in the national tour, concluding his run on August 8, 2010. Bart returned to Broadway in 2016 in the musical Disaster!. In 2019, he was announced to play Dr. Emmett Brown in the musical adaptation of Back to the Future, performing the role at the Manchester Opera House and London's Adelphi Theatre before reprising it in the Broadway production, which earned him a third Tony Award nomination.

During his early career, Bart formed a close friendship with Jonathan Larson; both worked as waiters between theater engagements and spent time at each other's workplaces. He participated in early presentations of Larson's work, including Tick, Tick... Boom! and Rent, and the central character Roger in Rent is named after him. In 2021, Bart appeared in a cameo in the film adaptation of Tick, Tick... Boom!, approximately thirty years after his involvement in the original show. A character played by Joshua Henry in the film is named Roger and is loosely inspired by Bart.

Bart provided the singing voice for the teenage Hercules in Disney's 1997 animated film Hercules, performing the song "Go the Distance," which received both an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination. He also supplied the singing voice of Scamp in Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. In 2019, he was cast as Hades in the world premiere of Disney's stage musical Hercules.

On television, Bart played George Carlin's son on The George Carlin Show in 1994 and portrayed a character named Paul Newman on Bram & Alice in 2002. He became widely recognized for his role as George Williams, a homicidal pharmacist, on Desperate Housewives, a performance that earned him a SAG Award. Subsequent television work includes the recurring role of Mason Treadwell on the ABC drama Revenge beginning in 2011, Roger Riskin on the Showtime series Episodes beginning in 2013, Vice Principal Nero on the second season of the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2017, and Judge Wilson on the Freeform drama Good Trouble beginning in 2018. In December 2006, he played Howard "The Weasel" Montague in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room.

His film credits include the 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives alongside Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, and Glenn Close, and the 2005 film adaptation of The Producers, in which he reprised the role of Carmen Ghia. In 2007, he starred as Stuart in Hostel: Part II and had supporting roles in American Gangster and Spy School. He appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and The Midnight Meat Train in 2008.