King George of "Hamilton," Jonathan Groff, had this cool backstory
Even if you don't think you've heard of stage and screen actor Jonathan Groff, you've probably heard of him. The supremely obnoxious King George of "Hamilton" (open in new tab) is also the voice of Kristoff in "Anna and the Snow Queen" and "Anna and the Snow Queen II," and has appeared in numerous popular shows including "Glee," "Mindhunter" and "Looking. I love that he can play unabashedly evil in his roles, but he also does well in straight and sweet roles. Although he is not on social media and his personal life is private, he has been active on Broadway and more recently in TV and film, attracting fans around the world. So what do we know about him?
He is actually from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and is half Mennonite. He got his big start in the now-famous The Rise of Spring. If you recognize the actor next to him, it is none other than Lea Michele:
He also co-starred with Michele again in "Glee":
He also appeared in the cult classic film and TV show "Looking":
and he has appeared in "Hair, The Bacchae," and "Little Shop of Horrors," among many other Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Most recently, he played the mute and uptight FBI agent Holden Ford in David Fincher's "Mindhunter" on Netflix:
and is said to be appearing in "The Matrix 4".
King George is in the play for less than 10 minutes, but Groff perfectly captures his smirk. Groff seems to have a great rapport with Miranda and the rest of the cast, and says he loves that the role brings a sense of the Revolutionary War as a breakup:
As you may have seen, Groff made headlines after the play's premiere for a somewhat appropriate reason - he was the first to be cast as King George. As a singer, I know this challenge really well: the fact that viewers noticed that he spits (open in new tab) a lot in his King George performance. Groff seems to be known for his phlegm (open in new tab) and has brought it up several times in his Broadway history (open in new tab): "I don't know what it is. I think it's a lot of saliva in my mouth. Unless I'm in a good scene with somebody and I can see the saliva hitting them in the face, I don't actually think much about it."
Groff, who is known for his private life and is not on social media, previously dated Gavin Creel (opens in new tab) and Star Trek's Zachary Quinto (opens in new tab) and has not left since the end of Spring Awakening. He met Baker, a choreographer, in New Zealand when they were both teaching at a musical theater summer school (opens in new tab). He tells a bit about their sweet meeting:
And he lives a modest life in Chelsea, Manhattan.
This article has been updated.
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