Jeff Kready on Raising a Broadway Baby with Wife Nikki Renee Daniels & Killing It in Gentleman's Guide

Age: 32

Hometown: Topeka, KS

Current Role: Deviously ambitious fortune hunter Monty Navarro, who sets out to knock off eight members of the aristocratic D’Ysquith family in the Tony-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

Stage Cred: Kready made his Broadway debut as the youngest Jean Valjean ever while understudying the role in the 2006 revival of Les Miserables (and met his future wife, The Book of Mormon star Nikki Renee Daniels). After a stint in Billy Elliot in NYC and on tour, he joined the original cast of Gentleman’s Guide.

“I grew up singing barbershop in a chorus directed by my dad. When I was still in the womb, I’m told that I kicked really hard when a bad quartet got up to perform at a concert. From that moment, my mom was convinced I had perfect pitch.”

“We called Bryce Pinkham ‘iron man’ because he never called in sick. I went on [as Monty] for the first time after the Tonys, and the producer said, ‘Why are you so calm?’ I said, “I’ve had nine months to get ready. If I was freaking out now, you shouldn’t have hired me!”

“I’ve never had more fun in a role than playing Monty, and the show itself is a crazy marathon. Monty is off stage for a total of only three minutes and 20 seconds—someone did the math—and he changes so much from beginning to end.”

“My wife [Nikki Renee Daniels] and I met in Les Miz, but we were just friends until she left the show. She cornered me at a cast party and said, ‘What’s going on between us?’ I would never have had the courage [to make a move] because she was way out of my league, and still is.”

“Raising a family in New York City is so different from how I grew up in Kansas, with a house and a yard. But we’re able to spend all day with our daughter, Lena, who is a year and a half. We sing and read books and go to the park, and Nikki and I leave for work together. We feel completely blessed.”

“The best part of fatherhood is the perspective it’s given me. It’s not that I don’t care about my career anymore, but I just want to do well for Lena, not for me. I hope she becomes a podiatrist or something more sensible than an actor!”