An American in Paris' Brandon Uranowitz on Telling His Dad to Calm Down & the Perks of Being a Tony Nominee

Age: 28

Hometown: West Orange, NJ

Current Role: A Tony-nominated turn as an Adam Hochberg, an aspiring expat composer living in the French capital, in the new Gershwin musical An American in Paris.

Stage & Screen Cred: Uranowitz made his Broadway debut in Baby, It’s You. His other stage work includes Rent, Twelfth Night and Torch Song Trilogy. His TV credits include Inside Amy Schumer and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. 

"It was magical growing up in New Jersey. My sister and I would go nuts in the basement and do full theater productions. We used a humidifier as a fog machine. It was over the top."

"I started doing theater at the age of six. I also took tap and jazz lessons. I refused to take ballet, which is one of my biggest regrets to this day. Particularly now with [the ballet-heavy] An American in Paris. It’s like rubbing my face in it."

"My dad doesn’t like to admit it, but he’s the ultimate stage dad. He likes to see himself as my manager even though he’s not. I tell him to calm down at least twice a week. The day of the Tony nominations I honestly thought he was having a heart attack."

"They dyed my hair and eyebrows every two weeks when I did Ragtime in Toronto. Imagine me at 10 with foils on my head and white shit on my eyebrows. I didn’t come to New York with the show because I looked too Jewish. I was devastated."

"I worked at Barney’s selling clothes to lonely rich white women. Every time I would look down on myself—hating my job, hating my life—I would think, 'It’s a character study. Study these people and you’ll have your SNL audition ready in like five minutes.'"

"The best perk of being Tony-nominated so far is the amount of love that washes over you. Every text message and every Facebook post has been a total lovefest. Plus, I get to meet Kelli O’Hara. That’s a pretty sweet perk."