Stephen Bogardus

Stephen Bogardus, born March 11, 1954, in Norfolk, Virginia, is an American actor whose career has spanned Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theatre, film, and television. He attended Choate Rosemary Hall, graduating in 1972, and went on to Princeton University, where he graduated in 1976 as a member of both the Princeton Nassoons and the Princeton Triangle Club. He subsequently trained at HB Studio in New York City.

Bogardus made his first New York City stage appearance in 1979 in a production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, adapted from the film, at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. His Broadway career began the following year with West Side Story (1980), in which he played Mouth Piece and served as understudy to the role of Tony. He returned to Broadway in 1987 in two productions: Safe Sex and Les Misérables, in which he played Grantaire, Bamatabois, and ensemble roles while understudying Javert, a run that lasted from November 1987 through June 1988. The Grapes of Wrath followed, in which he appeared as Car Salesman and Bookkeeper.

A defining credit in Bogardus's career came with Falsettos (1992), in which he originated the role of Whizzer on Broadway. The role had roots in earlier off-Broadway productions: he had appeared in March of the Falsettos in 1981, In Trousers in 1985, and Falsettoland in 1990. He also appeared off-Broadway in Love! Valour! Compassion! in 1994, a production that transferred to Broadway the following year, where he played Gregory Mitchell. His performance earned him both an Obie Award nomination and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1995. He reprised the role in the 1997 film adaptation.

Bogardus continued accumulating Broadway credits through the late 1990s and 2000s. He appeared in the concert production of King David in 1997 as Joab, followed by High Society (1998) as Mike Connor. That same year, he and his wife, dancer Dana Moore, appeared together in Chicago, with Bogardus playing lawyer Billy Flynn and Moore playing Velma Kelly. James Joyce's The Dead brought him to Broadway in 2000 as Gabriel Conroy, a role he also performed at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Man of La Mancha (2002) cast him as Duke and Dr. Carrasco, and he appeared in Old Acquaintance in 2007 as Preston Drake. In 2008, he starred as Bob Wallace in both the Broadway and U.S. touring productions of White Christmas, a role he had previously performed at the Wang Center in Boston in 2005 and in St. Paul in 2006. His most recent Broadway credit is Bright Star (2016), the musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, in which he originated the role of Daddy Cane.

His off-Broadway work extends beyond the Falsettos trilogy and Love! Valour! Compassion!. He appeared in Man of La Mancha off-Broadway in 2002, portrayed Colonel Ricci in a 2013 production of Passion, played Joe Boyd in Damn Yankees in 2017, and took on the role of Nick Laine in Girl from the North Country in 2018. His touring credits include the role of Freddie Trumper in Tim Rice's Chess, which he performed on a U.S. tour in 1990, and Stine in a tour of City of Angels in 1991. He and Moore appeared together again in Damn Yankees at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2002, with Moore as Lola and Bogardus as Mr. Applegate.

Regional theatre credits include M. Butterfly at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., William Finn's Elegies at the Canon Theatre in Los Angeles, and James Joyce's The Dead at the Ahmanson Theater. He was also featured in the City Center Encores! concert series, appearing in Sweet Adeline in 1997 and as Joseph Taylor Jr. in Allegro in 1994.

On television, Bogardus has had recurring appearances on daytime dramas including Another World, All My Children, and Guiding Light, as well as guest roles on prime-time series including Cagney and Lacey, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Ed, Monk, and Conviction. In June 2020, he ran for the presidency of Actors' Equity Association, challenging incumbent Kate Shindle, but was unsuccessful. Bogardus is married to Dana Moore, and the couple has an adopted son, Jackson Bogardus.