Les Miz Flag-Waver Kyle Scatliffe on Wearing the Vest, Cruising with Villains & Why He'd Make a Terrible Ninja

Age: 27

Hometown: Westwood, NJ

Current Role: Waving the flag as Enjolras, student revolutionary, in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables.

Stage Cred: Coalhouse Walker in Ragtime in Austin, Jud Fry in Oklahoma! in Seattle and Haywood Patterson in the London premiere of The Scottsboro Boys, a role that just earned him an Olivier Award nomination.

“I grew up around Italians, so I talk with my hands all the time. If I’m talking and I start getting passionate about what I’m saying, my hands just start flying around. Big hand talker.”

“People in high school would tell me they can hear me coming down the hallway. I have a big laugh. They’d be like, ‘Is Kyle here?’ and you’d hear ‘HAHAHA’ and they’d be like, ‘Kyle’s here.’ It’s like a warning signal. I’d be a terrible ninja.”

“I'm 6'5". When I was a kid, I was 5’7” and I played basketball. But I stopped 'cause it’s not the best height for basketball. Then, out of nowhere, I grew over the summer to six feet and then 6’1” by 11th grade. Everyone was like, ‘Hey, you should come back and play basketball!’ And I was like, ‘I think I like theater more so I’ll see you guys later!”

“I was leaving on a Disney cruise when I got cast in The Scottsboro Boys. I would play villains in their Villains Tonight! show. I’d do Hades from Hercules, Jafar from Aladdin... But the best to play was Scar, because The Lion King is my favorite.”

“A black kid in Hawaii messaged me after I got the part of Enjolras. He played the role there and was really happy to see that someone could play the part on this scale. It was surreal for me and I thought, ‘This is what Barack Obama must have felt like,’ because when he was voted President, all black people said, 'Wow, a black person can be President!’”

“I stopped moving when I first saw the Enjolras vest and just went ‘Ooh!’ I ran into the boys dressing room and was like, ‘The vest! The vest!’ I was very excited to put it on!”