Wesley Taylor

Wesley Taylor is an American stage actor and writer born on August 13, 1986, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, who was raised in Orlando, Florida. He is half Puerto Rican. Taylor graduated from the theatre magnet program at Dr. Phillips High School before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from North Carolina School of the Arts, where he performed as Falstaff in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and as Action in West Side Story.

Taylor's professional theatre career began in summer 2008 with Barrington Stage Company's production of See Rock City and Other Destinations, a musical that went on to receive the Richard Rodgers and Jerry Bock Awards. He made his Broadway debut the following year in Rock of Ages, originating the role of Franz, a German city developer. The performance earned him a Theatre World Award in 2009 and a nomination from the Outer Critics Circle.

His next Broadway credit was The Addams Family, in which he originated the role of Lucas Beineke, Wednesday Addams's love interest. Taylor had previously played the role in the show's 2009 Chicago production before the musical opened on Broadway in April 2010. He appeared in the role opposite Krysta Rodriguez, who played Wednesday Addams, and remained with the production until March 8, 2011.

Outside of Broadway, Taylor took on several notable stage projects. On March 7, 2011, he appeared in a reading of a stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by playwright Michael Raver, playing the title role alongside Lauren Molina. Beginning May 18, 2011, he starred as Michael "Mouse" Tolliver in the world-premiere musical Tales of the City, based on Armistead Maupin's book series, at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco under the direction of Jason Moore. The production ran through July 31, 2011, following three extensions. In 2016, Taylor played the role of God in An Act of God at the Denver Center.

Taylor returned to Broadway with SpongeBob SquarePants, which opened on December 4, 2017, playing Sheldon Plankton opposite Stephanie Hsu as Karen Plankton. He subsequently appeared as the Mad Hatter in Alice by Heart at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater, which opened on February 26, 2019. His Broadway credits also include the drama The Family.

On television, Taylor played Bobby on the NBC series Smash and has appeared on One Life to Live, Live! with Regis and Kelly, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. As a writer, he co-created and starred in the webseries Indoor Boys alongside Alex Wyse, playing the character Luke. Since early 2009, Taylor and former Rock of Ages cast members have maintained a YouTube web series called Billy Green, in which Taylor plays the title character alongside Jackie Hoffman as his mother. The concept originated during Taylor's final year at drama school, when he and classmate E.J. Cantu wrote a short scene called "The Audition" that became the basis for the series. Taylor has also written several short plays, including Star-Crossed, The Game, and The Delivery Boy, and received a developmental reading of his project What's So Funny? on August 12, 2011, at Ripley-Grier Studios in Manhattan. He additionally participated in a reading of A Dog's Tale at the Kennedy Center.

In 2016, Taylor met actor Isaac Cole Powell while visiting his alma mater, North Carolina School of the Arts, where Powell was a junior in the theatre program. The two began a relationship in 2017 and became engaged in May 2019, though their relationship ended in 2021. Taylor is gay. His parents, who once taught at a university in China, resided abroad during portions of his career.