Yer a Leading Man! John Skelley's Magical Rise to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway

John Skelley has been part of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child family for nearly eight years. After joining the Broadway company in 2018 as an understudy just after the production swept the Tony Awards, he helped launch the San Francisco production, spent a year on the national tour and now steps into the title role on Broadway as the boy who lived. Sitting down with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek, Skelley reflects on the long road to the center of one of Broadway's biggest blockbusters, the responsibility of playing one of the world's most beloved characters and the unexpected love story that brought him and his wife to the same stage.

Skelley’s journey with the production has been anything but ordinary. Hired the week before the Tony Awards, Skelley watched the ceremony from home knowing he'd soon be joining the award-winning company. Now at the center of the production, Skelley says the audience's enthusiasm never gets old. "To hear the gasps from the audience at certain moments and certain characters get mentioned and all of a sudden a character you didn't expect to pop up is there," he says, "that's always so fun." With the original Draco Malfoy, Tom Felton, joining the Broadway cast, the excitement has only grown. "Coming outside after the show to stage door and seeing all of these people lined up, they just want to be a part of it. I get it, because I've been a part of it for so long and the world of Harry Potter is just magical."

Taking on such an iconic character comes with its own expectations. Skelley admits Harry Potter fans notice everything. "You do have a pressure to know the trivia and things like that," he says, recalling social media comments after accidentally referring to "Every Flavor Beans" incorrectly and saying "Headless Nick" instead of "Nearly Headless Nick." Still, he embraces the duty. "It's also a responsibility, I think, to carry that character and to carry the stories and to really invest in the world of it. What other kind of role do you have this much material to draw on? So that's a gift as an actor."

Ironically, Skelley wasn't one of those lifelong fans himself. "I was not a Harry Potter fan growing up," he says. "I hadn't read the books before I got the job." After being cast, he quickly read the entire series and now revisits both the books and films regularly to stay immersed in the wizarding world.

Growing up in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Skelley was far more interested in hockey and football than theater. Everything changed after seeing his high school's production of The Music Man. "I just watched it and I thought, 'Oh, I want to be doing that,'" he says. The following year he quit football and threw himself into theater, eventually performing in Once Upon a Mattress before deciding to not look back. "That was the last year I played hockey," he says. "That was the last year I played football and I just started doing every play I could."

His passion continued through the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program, where free tickets and masterclasses introduced him to professional theater. After graduating, he spent seven years performing at the Guthrie, tackling everything from The Importance of Being Earnest to Long Day's Journey Into Night and Charley's Aunt. Comedy remains high on his acting wish list. "I love doing comedy," he says. "I would love to do more comedy. That would absolutely be on the top of my list to do next."

One Guthrie production changed his life in another way. During A Christmas Carol, Skelley met fellow actor Maren Searle. "It was a little bit of a showmance," he says of his now-wife. Their first date came the day after opening in 2008, and years later they married, moved to New York and worked a string of jobs together before eventually sharing the stage in both the first national tour and Broadway productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. A member of the ensemble, Searle also understudies Ginny Weasley, bringing the couple even more full-circle. "It's a dream come true, and it's unbelievable," Skelley says. "To think that I would not only be here playing the role on Broadway, but then Maren's in the show and we've gotten to travel the country doing it together... What else could you ever ask for?"

Skelley is far from ready to hang up Harry Potter's wand. Comparing the role to another career-defining performance, he says, "The only part I've done that's like it is Hamlet, actually. Because it has everything: There's comedy, there's drama. It has every little thing that you'd want to do as an actor, within this three hour marathon." If Hamlet was the defining role of Skelley's past, Harry Potter is the magic that's defining his present.

Watch the full interview below!

Get tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!