Thomas Kail

Thomas Kail, born January 20, 1977, is an American theatre director, television director, and producer. He grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, attended Sidwell Friends School, graduating in 1995, and went on to earn a degree from Wesleyan University in 1999. Kail is Jewish. Following his graduation from Wesleyan, he began his professional career as an assistant stage manager at the American Stage Company in New Jersey.

During his time at Wesleyan, Kail formed a lasting friendship with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the two, together with Anthony Veneziale, co-created the freestyle hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme. That creative partnership would prove central to Kail's subsequent career. In 2007 and 2008, he directed the 24 Hour Plays benefit performances at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway, in which six short plays are written, rehearsed, directed, and performed within a single 24-hour period. His contributions included Julia Jordan's A Bus Stop Play in 2007 and Beau Willimon's Zusammenbruch in 2008.

Kail's Broadway breakthrough came with In the Heights, the musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which began previews at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on February 14, 2008, and officially opened on March 9, 2008. The production earned Kail a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical. In 2009, he staged the world premiere of Nathan Louis Jackson's Broke-ology at the Williamstown Theatre Festival before directing its Off-Broadway run at Lincoln Center Theater, where it played from October 5 to November 22, 2009. That production brought Kail an AUDELCO Award nomination for Best Director of a Dramatic Production. Also in 2009, he directed New York City Center's Encores! production of The Wiz.

Kail directed Eric Simonson's play Lombardi, centered on Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi during a week in the 1965 season as he pursues a championship. The play officially opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre on October 21, 2010. He subsequently reunited with Simonson on Magic/Bird, a play tracing the intertwined careers of basketball Hall of Famers Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson, featuring Kevin Daniels as Johnson and Tug Coker as Bird. The production began previews at the Longacre Theatre on March 21, 2012, officially opened April 11, and closed May 12, 2012. In January and February 2011, between those two Simonson collaborations, Kail also directed the Off-Broadway run of Nathan Louis Jackson's When I Come to Die.

Kail's most celebrated stage work came with Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical, which he directed both Off-Broadway and on Broadway in 2015. The production earned him the 2016 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. That same year, he directed Grease: Live for Paramount Television, broadcast live on Fox on January 31, 2016. Also in 2016, he helmed the world premiere of Sarah Burgess's Dry Powder, featuring Hank Azaria, Claire Danes, John Krasinski, and Sanjit De Silva, at The Public Theater in New York City, where it ran from March to May. Later that year, he directed Tiny Beautiful Things, also at The Public, from November to December 2016.

Kail was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018. That same year, FX announced an eight-episode limited series, Fosse/Verdon, with Sam Rockwell portraying Bob Fosse and Michelle Williams portraying Gwen Verdon. Kail directed five of the series' eight episodes. He received a Directors Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Directing in Movies for Television and Limited Series for the episode "Nowadays," and was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the series.

In May 2023, it was announced that Kail would direct a live-action adaptation of the Disney animated film Moana, marking his narrative feature directorial debut. He was also attached to direct and co-produce a remake of Fiddler on the Roof for Amazon MGM Studios.

In his personal life, Kail began a relationship with theatre actress Angela Christian in 2006; the two divorced in 2019. In December 2019, it was announced that he was engaged to Michelle Williams, who was expecting their first child. The couple married in March 2020, and their son, Hart, was born by June of that year. In May 2022, Williams announced she was pregnant with their second child, who was born later that year. In early 2025, Kail and Williams welcomed a third child together via surrogate. The couple are raising their children within Judaism, and Williams, who is not Jewish, has been studying the religion.