Cheyenne David Jackson[1] (born July 12, 1975)[2] is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings.
In concert, Jackson has sold out Carnegie Hall twice: The Power of Two in 2010 and Music of the Mad Men Era in 2011. He also performs in cabarets. In addition to his Broadway cast albums, he has released three albums of popular music, including a joint album called The Power of Two with Michael Feinstein in 2008. In 2012, Jackson released two singles, "Drive" and "Before You", from his 2013 album I'm Blue, Skies. In 2016, Jackson released his third studio album, Renaissance,[6] an album adapted and expanded from his solo concert Music of the Mad Men Era.
Jackson was born in Spokane, Washington[2] to David and Sherri Jackson,[7] and was named by his father after the 1950s Western series Cheyenne.[8] The third of four children, he was raised in Oldtown, Idaho, a "teeny mill town" in a rural area in northern Idaho near the Washington border.[8] His father was a Vietnam veteran. His mother taught Jackson, his sister, and his two brothers to sing and regularly played music by Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley at home. Throughout his childhood, Jackson lived with his family in a rural home that had an outhouse and no running water.[9] He moved to Spokane as a teenager.
In Seattle, Jackson worked as an ad executive at a magazine and did some theater work on the side, earning his Equity card.[8] He moved to New York City after 2001 to pursue an acting career.[10]
Jackson made his Broadway debut understudying both male leads in the Tony Award-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. He later served as the standby for the character of Radames in Aida, then originated the role of Matthew in the NYMF production of Altar Boyz. In 2005, he originated his first Broadway leading role in the musical All Shook Up, a tribute to Elvis Presley. His performance as Chad earned him the Theatre World Award and nominations from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor.[11] In 2006, Jackson starred off-Broadway in playwright Nicky Silver's The Agony and The Agony with Victoria Clark. In June 2007, less than a week before the scheduled opening night, Jackson assumed the lead role of Sonny on Broadway in Xanadu, replacing James Carpinello who had been injured during rehearsal. Previous workshop productions of the musical starred Jackson and Jane Krakowski. However, both Jackson and Krakowski opted out of the initial Broadway run, citing schedule conflicts.[12] His performance as Sonny earned him nominations from the Drama League and Drama Desk for Outstanding Lead Actor. Xanadu had several Tony Award nominations including "Best New Musical" for which Jackson and the cast performed on the 62nd Tony Awards show.[13]
In October 2009, Jackson opened on Broadway reprising the role of Woody Mahoney in the revival of the 1947 musical Finian's Rainbow at the St. James Theatre, costarring with Jim Norton and Kate Baldwin.[18][19][20][21][22]The Wall Street Journal wrote, "The way that [Kate Baldwin] and Cheyenne Jackson sing "Old Devil Moon" is the stuff best-selling cast albums are made of."[23] The show closed on January 17, 2010. Along with the company of Finian's Rainbow, Jackson recorded the Broadway revival cast album in early December 2009, with a release date of February 2, 2010.[24]
From 2009 through 2013, Jackson had a recurring role on the award-winning series 30 Rock playing Danny Baker. Jackson also portrayed Dustin Goolsby, the coach of "Vocal Adrenaline", the main rival of "New Directions", on the second season of FOX's show Glee.[31]
He has guest starred on several television series, including Lipstick Jungle, Life on Mars, and Ugly Betty, and was featured in a prominent guest role during Season 8 of Curb Your Enthusiasm. His character "Terry" was the personal trainer to Larry David and Wanda Sykes. On March 15, 2010, Jackson made his guest-starring debut on the NBC series Law & Order in an episode entitled "Innocence".[32]
In 2008, Jackson played series lead Sebastian Kinglare for the Lifetime Television pilot Family Practice opposite Anne Archer and Beau Bridges.[33] The series was not picked up for distribution.
In 2010, Jackson filmed a sitcom pilot for ABC-TV called It Takes a Village, co-starring Leah Remini, which was not picked up for the fall 2010 season.[34]
In 2012, Jackson and Nathan Lane were cast as series leads in the USA Network comedy pilot Local Talent. The series was not picked up for distribution.
Additionally, Jackson guest starred on the pilot episode of NBC's revamp of The Munsters, Mockingbird Lane, written by Bryan Fuller and directed by Bryan Singer. Jackson portrayed Scout Master Steve, a competing love interest for Portia de Rossi's character Lily Munster; the show also stars Eddie Izzard and Jerry O'Connell.[35] NBC aired the pilot as a Halloween special on October 26, 2012.
Jackson also appeared in the fifth season of American Horror Story as one of the leads alongside Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer. Jackson returned to the show's sixth season to play Network Executive Sidney Aaron James as well as the seventh season to play psychiatrist Dr. Rudy Vincent Anderson and the eighth season of the show to play warlock John Henry Moore.
Jackson made several appearances on RuPaul's Drag Race. He also appeared in the tenth episode of Season 2 of Sense8 as Blake Huntington, an award-winning actor who is cast opposite Miguel Ángel Silvestre's Lito Rodríguez in a Hollywood film. In 2019, he played the role of Hades, Mal's father in the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants 3.
In 2022, Jackson competed in season seven of The Masked Singer as "Prince" of Team Good who resembles a frog dressed as a prince. He finished in third place.[39]
In March 2009, Jackson made his nightclub debut at Feinstein's at Loews Regency with a sold-out one-man show titled Back to the Start.[8] He later teamed up with Michael Feinstein to create a nightclub act titled "The Power of Two".[42][43][44][45][46] A CD of the show was released on November 3, 2009.
The Power of Two, a concert reuniting Jackson and Feinstein, was presented at Carnegie Hall on October 29, 2010.[47][48] Jackson was the guest artist performing with the New York Pops in concert, Cheyenne Jackson's Cocktail Hour: Music of the Mad Men Era, at Carnegie Hall on November 18, 2011.[49] Joe Dziemianowicz of The New York Daily News wrote, "There, in Judy (Garland)'s spot singing Joni (Mitchell)'s song, (Cheyenne) Jackson turned the bittersweet ballad into a beautiful highlight in an evening filled with luscious moments with the New York Pops."[50]
On May 10, 2012, Jackson released his single "Drive", his first non-theatrical single and his first music video release. The video was directed by Austrian music video director Christian Hörlesberger and the track produced by Thomas "Tawgs" Salter. It was the first single released from I'm Blue, Skies, which was eventually released in June 2013. The album was co-written by Jackson with Sia, Stephen "Stevie" Aiello, and Charlotte Sometimes.[53]
On July 10, 2012, Jackson released his second single from I'm Blue, Skies, "Before You", also produced by Salter. In August 2012, "Before You" reached a peak of No. 31 on the Hot 100 AC chart.[54]
In 2013, he released three singles, "She's Pretty, She Lies", "Look at Me", and "I'm Blue, Skies", followed in 2015 with the single "Don't Wanna Know", all accompanied by music videos. On June 3, 2016, Jackson released Renaissance,[6] an album on the PS Classics record label, adapted and expanded from his solo concert Music of the Mad Men Era.
In the media
Jackson appeared on the March 26, 2008, cover of The Advocate. In 2008, he was named "Entertainer of the Year" by Out and appeared alongside Gus Van Sant, Katy Perry, and Sam Sparro on the cover of the magazine's commemorative 100th issue in December. In April 2010, he appeared on the cover of Canadian fab magazine under the title "Cheyenne Jackson: I Love New York" with photographs by Mike Ruiz. He also appeared on the cover of Out's November 2010 issue. In July 2012, he appeared on the cover of attitude.
Charity work
Jackson is an LGBT rights advocate. He is an international ambassador for amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research).[55]
Jackson is also a national ambassador and spokesperson for the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a non-profit organization devoted to serving the needs of LGBT youth.[56][57][58]
Personal life
Jackson is gay.[59] He began dating Monte Lapka, a physicist, in 2000. The two married on September 3, 2011, in New York City.[60][61][62] In July 2013, they announced plans to divorce.[63] They filed for divorce in September 2013.[64]
In October 2013, Jackson announced he was dating actor Jason Landau on his official Instagram account.[65] They announced their engagement in February 2014[66] and married in Encino, California, in September 2014.[67] Jackson and Landau became the parents of twins, a girl named Willow and boy named Ethan, in October 2016.[68]
Jackson is a recovering alcoholic, having achieved sobriety in 2013.[69]
Finian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane, produced by Lee Sabinson. The original 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances, while a film version was released in 1968 and several revivals have followed.
Burton Lane was an American composer and lyricist primarily known for his theatre and film scores. His most popular and successful works include Finian's Rainbow in 1947 and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in 1965.
Gavin James Creel is an American actor, singer, and songwriter best known for his work in musical theater. Creel made his Broadway debut in 2002 in the leading role of Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie before starring as Claude in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair, both Tony Award-nominated performances. From 2012 to 2015, he starred as Elder Price in The Book of Mormon; he received a Laurence Olivier Award for originating the role in the West End version of the musical and has played the role in the US National Tour and on Broadway. In 2017, he received a Tony Award for his performance as Cornelius Hackl in Broadway's Hello, Dolly!.
Shoshana E. Bean is a Tony-nominated American singer, songwriter, and stage actress. She has appeared in numerous musicals, performing in major Off-Broadway and Broadway theatres, including in the original production of Hairspray.
Michael Jay Feinstein is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs. Feinstein is also a multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated recording artist. He is the artistic director for The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana.
[title of show] is a one-act musical, with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and a book by Hunter Bell. The show chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and follows the struggles of the author and composer/lyricist and their two actress friends during the initial brief (three-week) creative period, along with subsequent events leading up to the show's production.
Ramin Karimloo is a Canadian actor, singer and songwriter recognized for his work in London's West End and New York's Broadway theatre.
David Norman Yazbek is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), The Band's Visit (2017), and Tootsie (2019). His most recent projects include the musicals Dead Outlaw and Buena Vista Social Club.
Corbin Bleu Reivers is an American actor and singer. He began acting professionally in the late 1990s before rising to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Chad Danforth in the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008). Songs from the films also charted worldwide, with the song "I Don't Dance" peaking inside the Top 70 of the Billboard Hot 100. During this time, he also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! (2007) and the film To Write Love on Her Arms (2015). He competed in the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars.
Melissa Errico is an American actress, singer, recording artist and writer. She is known for her Broadway musical roles such as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and the title role in One Touch of Venus, as well as her recordings of musical theater classics, including albums of songs by Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand. In recent years she has become a contributing writer to The New York Times and served on the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sierra Marjory Boggess is an American theater actress and singer.
Fred Saidy was an American playwright and screenwriter.
Jonathan Drew Groff is an American actor and singer. He began his career on Broadway, rising to prominence for his portrayal of Melchior Gabor in the original production of Spring Awakening (2006–08), for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway to portray King George III in the original production of Hamilton (2015), for which he earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. In 2019, he starred in the Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, originating the role of Seymour Krelborn. He currently stars as Franklin Shepard opposite Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez in the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, a performance for which he is nominated for the 2024 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
Warren Carlyle is a British director and choreographer who was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Director of a Musical for the 2009 revival of Finian's Rainbow.
Thomas Robert Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey. He has also won two Tony Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Next to Normal, as well as Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations for If/Then and SpongeBob SquarePants. He has been nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards, winning one, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Jagged Little Pill in 2021.
Katherine Baldwin is an American singer and actress known for her work in musical theater. She received a Tony Award nomination for her work in the 2009 Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow. She also co-starred opposite Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce, and Gavin Creel in the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, for which she received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for her work as the saucy millineress Irene Molloy. Baldwin continued with the production until it closed in August 2018.
Tituss Burgess is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in several Broadway musicals and is known for his high tenor voice. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020), for which he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He was also featured in Schmigadoon! (2023).
Patina Renea Miller is an American actress and singer. Miller's breakout role was as originating the role of disco diva wannabe Deloris Van Cartier in the 2009 West End and 2011 Broadway productions of Sister Act for which she earned a Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award nominations respectively. She also starred as the Leading Player in the 2013 Broadway revival of Pippin, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She later returned to Broadway to star as the Witch in the 2022 Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods.
Terri White is an American actress and singer.
Jeremy Michael Jordan is an American actor and singer. He has performed on Broadway, in television and film, in concert, as well as in other theatrical productions.
1 2 Jackson, Cheyenne (February 21, 2021). "Cheyenne Jackson: Depression, Identity & Broadway". Mayim Bialik's Breakdown (Interview). Interviewed by Mayim Bialik. Event occurs at 12:30; 18:13 – via YouTube. I remember sitting in the audience in Spokane, Washington, where I was born, by the way...; My birthday is July 12, 1975
↑ Teachout, Terry (October 30, 2009). "It's Funny But Is It Art?". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 30, 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
↑ Jackson, Cheyenne (2004). "I Blame Liza ..."CheyenneJackson.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2008. Retrieved September 14, 2008. i don't know if you will remember this liza, but i sang backup for you with the broadway inspirational voices a couple years ago? ... I do remember, Cheyenne, you were terrific! ... she shouted out!
↑ Suskin, Steven (June 26, 2009). "Cabarets Change Menu". Variety. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
↑ Siegel, Barbara; Siegel, Scott (March 6, 2009). "The Power of Two". TheaterMania. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
↑ Healy, Patrick (November 13, 2009). "Breaks of the Game". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 17, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
