Steve Kazee

Steve Kazee is an American actor and singer born on October 30, 1975, in Ashland, Kentucky. He attended Fairview High School before enrolling at Morehead State University. After relocating to New York City in 2002, he earned his MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2005.

Kazee's professional stage career began in 2005 with an appearance in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of As You Like It. Later that year, he made his Broadway debut understudying the role of Leslie in Seascape. In January 2006, he played Timmy Cleary in The Subject Was Roses at the Kennedy Center, and in April 2006 he joined the Broadway cast of Spamalot as a replacement for Sir Lancelot. He starred as Bill Starbuck in the 2007 Broadway revival of 110 in the Shade, and in 2008 he played Sobinsky in To Be Or Not To Be, which ran from September 16 through November 16 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Kazee originated the role of Guy in the stage adaptation of Once, first performing the part when the production opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop on December 6, 2011. The show moved to Broadway, beginning previews on February 28, 2012, and opening on March 18, 2012, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. His performance earned him the 2012 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He and the cast of Once also received the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. During the run, Kazee made television appearances promoting the production on the Late Show with David Letterman and the Today Show.

In 2017, it was announced that Kazee would star as Edward in Pretty Woman: The Musical, a stage adaptation of the 1990 film, opposite Samantha Barks. Directed by Jerry Mitchell, the production premiered in Chicago in March 2018. Kazee departed the show prior to its Broadway opening in August 2018, citing family reasons, and was replaced by Andy Karl.

Kazee's television work spans more than a decade. Early credits include a 2006 appearance on Conviction, followed by roles on Medium and Numb3rs in 2007, NCIS in 2008, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2009. He held a starring role as Nick Garrett on CMT's Working Class in 2011, and in 2013 appeared on both Elementary and Drop Dead Diva. He played Gus Pfender in a recurring capacity across seasons five and six of Showtime's Shameless. He is also featured on Christina Perri's song "A Thousand Years, Pt. 2," included on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 original motion picture soundtrack.

Born and raised in Ashland, Kazee has been in a relationship with actress and dancer Jenna Dewan since 2018. The couple became engaged in February 2020. Their son, Callum Michael Rebel Kazee, was born on March 6, 2020, and their daughter, Rhiannon Lee Kathryn Kazee, was born on June 14, 2024, following an announcement in January 2024 that the couple were expecting a second child.