Skylar Astin

Skylar Astin Lipstein, known professionally as Skylar Astin, is an American actor and singer born on September 23, 1987, in New York City. He grew up in New City, New York, where he graduated from Clarkstown High School North and attended Stagedoor Manor performing arts summer camp. He later enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, though he took a leave of absence after being cast in his first professional stage production. The son of Meryl and Barry Lipstein, a garment industry executive, Astin is Jewish and has three siblings: a sister, Brielle, and two brothers, Milan and Jace. He adopted Astin, his middle name, as his stage surname at the suggestion of his agent when he was fifteen years old.

Astin launched his professional career in 2006 originating the role of Georg in Spring Awakening, appearing in both the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions. Georg is a male student with a crush on his piano teacher, a character with short solos across multiple songs and a notable belting moment in "Touch Me." While performing in Spring Awakening, Astin filmed the role of Rand Posin in Hamlet 2 (2008), recording "Raped in the Face" for the soundtrack alongside Spring Awakening castmate Phoebe Strole and the film's star, Steve Coogan. Screenings of Hamlet 2 at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival resulted in Astin signing with United Talent Agency.

In 2010, Astin played Mark Cohen in a Hollywood Bowl production of Rent directed by Neil Patrick Harris, alongside Aaron Tveit and Vanessa Hudgens. That same year he was cast in the Fox sitcom pilot Strange Brew, which was not picked up by the network, following an earlier unaired CBS pilot, the Adam Carolla sitcom Ace in the Hole, in 2009. He made guest appearances on the television series Love Bites and Girls in 2011 and 2012, respectively, and appeared in season eight of House in May 2012.

Astin reached wider recognition in 2012 with the comedy film Pitch Perfect, in which he starred as Jesse Swanson, a role he reprised in the 2015 sequel Pitch Perfect 2. He also appeared in the comedy films 21 and Over (2013) and Cavemen (2013), and starred as Brody Moyer in the TBS sitcom Ground Floor. In 2019, he played the Baker in a Hollywood Bowl production of Into the Woods.

On television, Astin took on the role of Greg Serrano, originally played by Santino Fontana, in the final season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and starred as Max, Zoey's best friend, in the musical dramedy Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist beginning in 2020. In March 2022, he joined the eighteenth season of Grey's Anatomy in a recurring role as Todd Eames. He then headlined the CBS drama So Help Me Todd, playing the title character Todd, in a series that premiered in September 2022 and concluded on May 16, 2024. On December 21, 2023, Astin performed "Put On a Happy Face" from the 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie on the primetime CBS special Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic, honoring actor Dick Van Dyke.