Andy Karl Biography

Andy Karl (born as Andrew Cesewski) is an American actor and singer, best known for performing in musical theatre. He has appeared on Broadway in the original productions of Legally Blonde, 9 to 5, and Rocky the Musical, as well as appearing in Wicked, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Jersey Boys, On The Twentieth Century, and And So It Goes.

Early life

Andy Karl was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Walter Cesewski and Susan Weisman. He attended Towson High School, where he was on the football team and performed in theater. In high school he played Jud Fry in Oklahoma! and General Bullmoose in Li'l Abner. At age 16 he performed as the title role in Aladdin at the White Marsh Dinner Theatre. After high school he attended Towson State University, where he studied voice and music. Karl originally planned on becoming a voice teacher until the director of a show he was in at college told him he had what it took to be a professional actor. Karl continued to perform in shows while in college. In Winter 1993-1994, he played the 7 foot dragon in the children's musical The Reluctant Dragon at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, Maryland.

Career

Karl moved to New York in 1994. He was an understudy in the touring cast of The Who's Tommy and in 1998 played Rum Tum Tugger in the touring cast of Cats. In February 2000 Karl was an understudy in the New York premiere of Sondheim's Saturday Night at the Second Stage Theatre. He made his Broadway debut in 2000 as the replacement for Joey in Saturday Night Fever. He continued with the production, this time in the role of Tony Manero, in its first national tour. In 2001 he performed in the musical stage production Me and Mrs. Jones at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia.

Karl was next seen as Dino Del Canto in the world premiere of the musical Romeo and Bernadette at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, Florida. The show, which ran in January 2003, garnered Karl a Carbonell Award for Best Actor in a musical. He reprised the role at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, New Jersey in February and March, 2003.

Karl was also seen at the Paper Mill Playhouse in June and July of that year, when he performed as Danny Zuko in Grease. In January 2004 he performed in the musical revue Nights on Broadway II at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In September 2004, Karl played Luke in the premiere of Altar Boyz at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. He then left the New York area to tour in the original company of Disney's On the Record. Karl returned to New York to play Luke in the Off-Broadway production of Altar Boyz, which opened on March 1, 2005 at Stage 4 of Dodger Stages (now New World Stages).

On September 26, 2005, Karl performed in the Actor's Fund Concert production of On the Twentieth Century. Karl's next role was the title character Adam Patterson in the Off-Broadway musical Slut at the American Theatre of Actors in Fall 2005.

In January 2006 Karl was in the three-person cast of Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love, a celebration of the music of Elvis Presley, at the now-closed Au Bar. In June and July of that year, he starred as Tad in the musical Bright Lights, Big City at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia. He then joined the Broadway cast of The Wedding Singer at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where he played the roles of Drunk Dave and Bad Haircut Guy until the show closed at the end of 2006.

Karl's next role was in Legally Blonde, where he played Kyle "the UPS guy", Dewey, and Grandmaster Chad at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, where the musical had its pre-Broadway tryout from January 23 to February 24, 2007. He reprised his roles in the Broadway production, which started previews on April 3 and opened on April 29, 2007 at the Palace Theatre. He was also an understudy to Emmett and Professor Callahan. He left the show on July 20, 2008.

Karl briefly left Legally Blonde in June 2007 to work on 9 to 5 in its week-long workshop. After leaving Legally Blonde, Karl continued working on the musical 9 to 5. He played Joe, the love interest of Allison Janney's character, in the pre-Broadway tryout in Los Angeles. The show played at the Ahmanson Theatre from September 3 to October 19, 2008. The show opened on Broadway on April 30, 2009 at the Marquis Theatre, and closed on September 6, 2009.

Karl took over the role of Fiyero from Kevin Kern in the Broadway production of Wicked on February 2, 2010 and played the role until January 2, 2011.

He took over the role Tommy Devito in the Broadway production of Jersey Boys on October 11, 2011.

Karl played Neville Landless in the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood which opened on November 29, 2012 at Studio 54. For this performance, he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.

Karl and Margo Seibert were featured as Rocky Balboa and Adrian in the new Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical Rocky the Musical, which opened on Broadway in February 2014. In order to get into shape to play Rocky Balboa, Karl put on 12 pounds of muscle and worked with a trainer to get to a heavyweight fighter"?s weight. Karl received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for this performance.

Karl played the role of Bruce Granit in the 2015 Broadway revival of On the Twentieth Century alongside Kristin Chenoweth in the role of Lily Garland/Mildred Plotka. He received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance.

In 2015, Karl joined the recurring cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as the unit's new sergeant, Mike Dodds, who is the son of Peter Gallagher's Chief William Dodds. The role reunites Karl and Gallagher after working together on On the Twentieth Century. He has since left his role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which resulted in his character's death.

On January 28, 2016, it was announced that Karl will be playing the role of Phil in the musical adaptation of Groundhog Day, the role played in the 1993 movie by Bill Murray. Groundhog Day is due to run at the Old Vic Theatre London from Monday 11th July 2016 - Saturday 17th September 2016.

Personal life

Karl met his wife Orfeh while in Saturday Night Fever together. They were married in January 2001 and now reside in Manhattan. In addition to Saturday Night Fever, they have also been seen together in Me and Mrs. Jones, Nights on Broadway II, Bright Lights, Big City and Legally Blonde.

Stage credits

Broadway

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Saturday Night Fever	Joey	Minskoff Theatre
2006	The Wedding Singer	David Fonda	Al Hirschfeld Theatre
2007-08	Legally Blonde	Chad/Dewey/Kyle	Palace Theatre
2009	9 to 5	Joe	Marquis Theatre
2010	Wicked	Fiyero Tiggular	Gershwin Theatre
2011-13	Jersey Boys	Tommy DeVito	August Wilson Theatre
2012-13	The Mystery of Edwin Drood	Neville Landless/Mr. Victor Grinstead	Studio 54
2014	Rocky the Musical	Rocky Balboa	Winter Garden Theatre
2015	On the Twentieth Century	Bruce Granit	American Airlines Theatre

Off-Broadway

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Saturday Night	Messrs Vlastnik/Washington/Thorell	Second Stage Theatre
2005	Altar Boyz	Luke	New World Stages (Stage 4)
2005	Slut	Adam	American Theater of Actors

Tours

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Who's Tommy		Understudy
1998	Cats	Rum Tum Tugger	Fourth national tour
2004-05	On the Record	Quartet member	First national tour

Regional

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Romeo and Bernadette	Dino Del Canto	Paper Mill Playhouse/Coconut Grove Playhouse
2003	Grease	Danny Zuko	Paper Mill Playhouse
2006	Bright Lights, Big City	Tad	Prince Music Theater

International

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Groundhog Day	Phil Connors	The Old Vic

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Legally Blonde: The Musical	Dewey/Kyle/Grandmaster Chad/Ensemble	TV Movie
2015	Forever	Sean Moore	1 episode
2015-16	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Sgt. Mike Dodds	Recurring role

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	New York, I Love You	Zoe's Boyfriend	Uncredited
2012	Joyful Noise	Caleb
2014	And So It Goes	Ted
2016	Little Men
	Before I Do	Mitch Harrington	Announced