Kyle Soller on Launching a Trans-Atlantic Career and His Swashbuckling Performance in Cyrano de Bergerac

Age & Hometown: 29; Alexandria, VA

Current Role: A Broadway debut as Christian, the tongue-tied heartthrob who needs help from the title character to woo fair Roxane, in Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway revival of Cyrano de Bergerac.

London Calling: This NYC Fresh Face is already well known in London, where he has tackled juicy roles including the Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie, Edmund in Long Day’s Journey Into Night (opposite Laurie Metcalf) and Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley. “How I rose to the top of the soup [on the London stage] is strange to me, but I’m really, really grateful,” says Soller, who transferred from William & Mary in his home state to London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after attending a summer program there. As he explains, “I couldn’t say no to the opportunity to get classical training in a city that has such an amazing background in theater.”

Good Christian: Approached by British director Jamie Lloyd to play the dashing but poorly spoken Christian in Cyrano, Soller jumped at the chance to make his U.S. stage debut. “He represents this noble quality of heroism and loyalty and honor that we don’t see much nowadays,” the actor says of his swashbuckling character, adding that Christian’s lack of self-confidence dovetails with Cyrano’s insecurity about his enormous nose. Christian “knows he’s attractive to the opposite sex, but he can’t follow through—he can’t seal the deal,” Soller says of the young soldier’s relationship with the demanding Roxane. “But he’s got an innocence and a courage that I really admire.”

Mid-Atlantic State: Soller met his wife, British actress Phoebe Fox, at RADA, and the couple recently found themselves in competition for the Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award. (He won.) They’ve been apart all fall while he prepped for Cyrano and she played Cordelia opposite Jonathan Pryce in King Lear at London’s Almeida Theatre. “It’s the first show of hers that I’ve missed,” he laments. “I really have to buy her something!” They'll reunite for an American Thanksgiving, celebrating what he hopes will become a trans-continental career—if casting directors recognize him, that is. Having dyed his hair for stage roles and donned wigs to play Christian and the flamboyant emcee in the forthcoming film of Anna Karenina, Soller says with a laugh, “I don’t know what my hair color is anymore.”