Rent’s Matt Shingledecker on Channeling Roger, Charming Lin-Manuel Miranda and Not Changing His Name

Age & Hometown: 25; Charleston, South Carolina

Current Role: Unleashing his inner rock star as Roger in the off-Broadway revival of Rent.

Roger That: With his (fake) tattooed biceps, newly spiked hair and artful stubble, Shingledecker's Roger looks quite different from his most recent role, clean-cut Tony in the Broadway revival of West Side Story. “Tony was always my dream role,” says Shingledecker, who studied classical voice in London during his college years at Elon University. “I got to do it on Broadway, and I was the last Tony to work with [librettist] Arthur Laurents. When it was over, I felt a sense of completion and an urge to do something totally different.” After winning over skeptical Rent producers, Shingledecker began to create Roger for himself. “I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Jeff Buckley,” he says. “To be true to this piece, you really have to get in touch with some deep places in your soul. It’s therapeutic but exhausting.”

What’s In a Name? Just before college graduation, Shingledecker landed a role in Spring Awakening on Broadway, which led to a debate over his last name. “I almost changed it when I started Spring Awakening,” he remembers. “I was thrown into this world of agents saying, ‘Shingledecker? I don’t know what I can do with that!’” but he was saved by director Michael Mayer. “I came into rehearsal and he said, ‘We cast you, and your name is Shingledecker. You’ll be fine.’” When pressure resumed from the film and television world, the young actor was prepared. “I thought, Renee Zellweger. Matt Shingledecker. Nah.” Considering he’s landed both a guest spot on TV’s Blue Bloods (“I played a pot-smoking debutante date! It was awesome”) and a recent cover of Next magazine, it seems he was right.

Video Vixen: Shingledecker’s sense of humor got him noticed by one of Broadway’s favorite composers, via a video he made with friends on the Spring Awakening national tour. “We made it like I was auditioning for In the Heights and taking it very seriously,” he says with a laugh, “which obviously I couldn’t do in a million years, because I’m as white as white can be. We put it on YouTube, and much to our surprise got a comment from Lin-Manuel Miranda saying, ‘Get ready.’” Not only did Miranda respond with his own Spring Awakening-themed video, he made the whole L.A. Heights company watch the video and gave Shingledecker, who happened to be in town for a West Side Story fitting, a glowing review. “He said, ‘If you were Latino, you might actually get cast!’” Shingledecker says proudly.