Star File

Alex Brightman

Alex Brightman garnered Tony and Drama League Award Nominations for his critically acclaimed, titular performance as Beetlejuice in Alex Timbers’ cult hit Broadway musical Beetlejuice, a role which he reprised when the show reopened on Broadway, post-pandemic. Ben Brantley of The New York Times lauded Alex as “the best reason” to see the show and David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter deemed it “impossible to deny [his] virtuosic showmanship.” He previously received Best Actor in a Musical Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, and Astaire Award Nominations for his portrayal of Dewey Finn in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical School of Rock, which David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter hailed “a star-making performance.” He is currently starring as Richard Dreyfuss in Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s Broadway transfer of The Shark is Broken. The play, directed by Olivier Award-Winner Guy Masterson, follows the behind-the-scenes hilarity and drama during the making of Spielberg’s Jaws. Alex also recently starred in the Kennedy Center’s acclaimed production of Spamalot, directed by Josh Rhodes. He made his Broadway debut in James Gardiner and Nick Blaemire’s Glory Days, and also appeared on Broadway in Wicked, Big Fish, and Matilda. Off-Broadway he starred in New York City Center Encores!’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, and in The Old Globe’s world premiere musical, Nobody Loves You. Alex was nominated for a 2018 Legacy Award by the Legionnaires of Laughter for Best Comedy Musical / Theatrical Male Actor.

On television, Alex had a pivotal arc on the final season of NBC’s long-running series The Blacklist opposite James Spader. He lent his voice to Pugsley in Netflix’s Dead End: Paranormal Park, to Robo Fizz and Fizzarolli in Youtube’s “Helluva Boss” and reprised his role of Beetlejuice for DC Entertainment’s Teen Titans Go! His other television credits include IFC’s Documentary Now! opposite John Mulaney, Richard Kind, and Taran Killam, Showtime’s Smilf, Paramount+’s The Good Fight opposite Christine Baranski, NBC’s Law & Order: SVU opposite Mariska Harigitay and CBS’s Blue Bloods. On film, Alex appeared in Billy Crystal’s Here Today and in the horror comedy Red Hook opposite Terrence Mann. He will next be seen in the Netflix feature The Union opposite Mark Wahlberg, Halle Berry, and JK Simmons. Alex has also established himself as a writer. He and his writing partner, Drew Gasparini, premiered their first project, a new musical thriller called Make Me Bad at the Bloomington Playwrights Project in 2013. Their next production was the one-man show Everything in its Place: The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, starring Marc Summers. The duo is currently developing several other projects, including a musical adaptation of The Whipping Boy, based on the Newbery medal- winning children's book and a musical adaptation of Universal’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story, which has been workshopped at Feinstein’s/54 Below, Second Stage and Paper Mill Playhouse. On his own, Alex is developing two plays – Everything is Fine, which Cynthia Nixon is attached to direct, and We Left It Here. He has also sold multiple television pilots – one to NBC/Universal Television with Jeffrey Seller and another to FX/20th Television with Melvin Mar.