Nik Walker

Last updated

Nik Walker is an actor and performer. He has co-starred in the Broadway productions of Hamilton and Spamalot playing Aaron Burr and Sir Galahad, respectively. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Walker was raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and has spoken publicly about how the city's history and culture influenced him as an artist. [2] His mother was a single mom from Little Rock, Arkansas who co-anchored a news program in Boston and later became a minister. [3]

Career

Walker's early Broadway credits include Hamilton (understudy for several supporting male roles and later as Aaron Burr), [4] Ain't Too Proud , [5] and Motown the Musical . [6]

In 2008, Walker portrayed the Balladeer in the Boston Center for the Arts production of Assassins. The following year he was Benjamin Coffin III in Rent at the Hangar Theatre. He returned to Rent as Tom Collins in 2011 with the Pioneer Theatre Company. Later that year he portrayed John in Miss Saigon at the Ogunquit Playhouse. He starred as the Wolf and Cinderella's Prince opposite Danielle Ferland in the Westport Country Playhouse and Center Stage production of Into the Woods . [7]

Walker made his Broadway debut in 2013 when he joined the cast of Motown: The Musical . He then joined the Broadway cast of Hamilton as an ensemble member and understudy for Aaron Burr, George Washington, and Hercules Mulligan/James Madison. [8] He performed in national touring companies for both Motown the Musical (as Ensemble) and Hamilton (as Burr). [9]

In 2020, he joined the Broadway cast of Ain't Too Proud , taking over the role of Otis Williams. [10] He remained with the production until it closed. [11]

In summer 2021, Walker starred as Sweeney Todd in the Hangar Theatre production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . [12]

Walker returned to the Broadway production of Hamilton on March 1, 2022, in the role of Aaron Burr. He starred in the production through February 26, 2023. [13]

Walker performed as Sir Galahad in the Washington, D.C., production of Spamalot at the Kennedy Center in May 2023. [14] He continued in the role when the production moved to Broadway in the fall of that same year. [15]

In addition to his career as a performer, Walker is a professor at New York University. [16]

Personal life

Walker is married to Sarah Joyce. [17]

Related Research Articles

<i>Spamalot</i> Musical comedy play by John Du Prez and Eric Idle

Spamalot is a stage musical with score by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, with lyrics and book by Idle. Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the musical offers a highly irreverent parody of Arthurian legend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess of Wales Theatre</span> Toronto, Ontario Theatre

The Princess of Wales Theatre is a 2,000-seat live theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on King Street West, in Toronto's downtown Entertainment District. The theatre's name has a triple meaning: it honours Diana, Princess of Wales, with whose consent the theatre was named; it links the building to its sister theatre, the Royal Alexandra, one block to the east, also named – with Royal assent – for a former Princess of Wales; and it recalls the Princess Theatre, Toronto's first "first-class legitimate" playhouse, that stood three blocks to the east until 1931.

<i>Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street</i> 1979 musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.

Celia Keenan-Bolger is an American actress and singer. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for portraying Scout Finch in the play To Kill a Mockingbird (2018). She has also been Tony-nominated for her roles in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), Peter and the Starcatcher (2012), The Glass Menagerie (2014), and Mother Play (2024).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André De Shields</span> American entertainer (born 1946)

André Robin De Shields is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, and Tony Award.

Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Mamma Mia!, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.

Rachel York is an American actress and singer. She is known for stage roles, including award winning performances in Camelot, Hello, Dolly!, Into The Woods and Anything Goes. She also has performed in film and on television, including her portrayal of Lucille Ball in the 2003 television movie Lucy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Oscar</span> American actor

Brad Oscar is an American musical theatre actor, known for his Broadway performances in musicals such as The Producers, Something Rotten!, Big Fish, Spamalot, The Addams Family, Mrs. Doubtfire and Wicked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Lewis</span> American actor, singer (born 1963)

Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in London's West End.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Finn</span> American theatrical producer

Jeffrey Finn is a Tony-Award winning American theatrical producer. He is the Vice President of Theater Producing and Programming at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Artistic Director of Broadway Center Stage. He received the Commercial Theater Institute's 2013 Robert Whitehead Award for outstanding achievement in commercial theatre producing. Finn is the President of Jeffrey Finn Productions and Hot On Broadway. He attended Connecticut College, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1992. He attended Beaver Country Day School from 1984 to 1988. Finn is a executive member of The Broadway League and The Independent Presenters Network.

Bradley Dean is an American stage and screen actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Petkoff</span> American stage actor

Robert Petkoff is an American stage actor known for his work in Shakespearean productions and more recently on the New York City musical theater stage. Petkoff has performed on Broadway, the West End, regional theatre, and done work in film and television. Petkoff was featured as "Perchik" in the Tony award-nominated 2004 revival cast of Fiddler on the Roof but is perhaps best known for his role as "Tateh" in the 2009 revival of Ragtime on Broadway. Petkoff has also provided the voices for over two dozen audiobooks, winning awards for his reading of Michael Koryta's So Cold the River. Married to actress Susan Wands, Petkoff has lived in New York City for the last twenty years, and often performs in benefit concerts for theater-district-related charities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Victor Dixon</span> American actor and producer

Brandon Victor Dixon is an American actor, singer and theatrical producer. As a musical theatre actor, he is known for Tony Award-nominated Broadway performances as Harpo in the 2005 musical The Color Purple and Eubie Blake in Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (2016). He originated both roles, as well as the leading role of Berry Gordy Jr. in Motown: The Musical (2013) on Broadway, which earned a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In 2016, Dixon assumed the role of Aaron Burr in the Broadway company of Hamilton. Off-Broadway as well as in London's West End, Dixon played the role of Hayward Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys and was nominated for a 2014 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Monroe Iglehart</span> American actor (born 1974)

James Monroe Iglehart is an American actor and comic book writer. He is perhaps best known for his Tony Award-winning performance as the Genie in the original Broadway production of Aladdin. Iglehart assumed the role of Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the Broadway company of Hamilton in April 2017. He originated the role of King Arthur in the 2023 Broadway revival of Spamalot. He can be heard as super producer Steve Jones in As The Curtain Rises, Broadway's first original podcast soap opera. More recently, Iglehart joined the cast of the animated webseries Helluva Boss, as both the Demon Lord of Lust Asmodeus/Ozzy and hellhound bodyguard Vortex, and Hazbin Hotel, as Zestial, as well having written for Marvel Comics, primarily one-shots featuring Spider-Man.

<i>Hamilton</i> (musical) 2015 biographical musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Hamilton: An American Musical is a sung-and-rapped-through biographical musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Lin-Manuel Miranda as well as choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler. Based on the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, the musical covers the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and his involvement in the American Revolution and the political history of the early United States. Composed over a seven-year period from 2008 to 2015, the music draws heavily from hip hop, as well as R&B, pop, soul, and traditional-style show tunes. It casts non-white actors as the Founding Fathers of the United States and other historical figures. Miranda described Hamilton as about "America then, as told by America now."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Odom Jr.</span> American actor, singer and songwriter (born 1981)

Leslie Lloyd Odom Jr. is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He made his acting debut on Broadway in 1998 and first gained recognition for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the musical Hamilton, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year. His performance was captured in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role in a Limited Series or Movie nomination.

<i>Spamilton</i> Musical parody play

Spamilton: An American Parody is a musical parody of the Broadway show Hamilton. Written by Gerard Alessandrini, creator of the parody revue Forbidden Broadway, Spamilton also parodies several other musicals, including Gypsy, Chicago, The King and I, Assassins, Camelot, The Book of Mormon and Sweeney Todd, and personalities, like Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Barbra Streisand, Bernadette Peters, Carol Channing and Liza Minnelli.

Joseph Alexander Morales is an American stage and TV actor, known for starring as Alexander Hamilton in the musical Hamilton's Chicago production and second national touring production.

<i>Aint Too Proud</i> 2018 jukebox musical

Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations is a 2017 jukebox musical with music and lyrics by The Temptations and a book by Dominique Morisseau. Based on the story of The Temptations, the musical had a series of regional productions and opened at Broadway's Imperial Theatre in March 2019.

Sasha Hutchings is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She is best known for her role as an understudy and ensemble member in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton.

References

  1. ↑ "Videos". FOX 5 New York. November 21, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Nik Walker on Black Theater, Gratitude and the New Musical, 'Spamalot'". Essence. December 31, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  3. ↑ Brouk, Tricia (August 3, 2021). "367 Engaging in the Hard Conversations with Nik Walker". Tricia Brouk. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  4. ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (January 10, 2022). "Nik Walker Sets Return to Broadway's Hamilton". Playbill.
  5. ↑ Clement, Olivia (February 28, 2020). "Broadway's Ain't Too Proud Welcomes Nik Walker and Matt Manuel". Playbill.
  6. ↑ "Nik Walker Never Thought He Would Do Musicals, Now He's Dancing and Singing in Ain't Too Proud". Broadway.com. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  7. ↑ https://www.abouttheartists.com/artists/326062-nik-walker Nik Walker AboutTheArtists
  8. ↑ "Nik Walker to Play Aaron Burr in Hamilton on Broadway". Broadway.com. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  9. ↑ Higgins, Jim. "Friend or foe? As Burr, Nik Walker is both in musical 'Hamilton' at Milwaukee's Marcus Center". Journal Sentinel. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  10. ↑ Millward, Tom (February 27, 2020). "Nik Walker & Matt Manuel debut in Ain't Too Proud on Broadway". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  11. ↑ White, Abbey (December 28, 2021). "Broadway's Temptations Musical 'Ain't Too Proud' to Close in January". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  12. ↑ https://playbill.com/article/nik-walker-and-donna-lynne-champlin-will-lead-sweeney-todd-at-hangar-theatre Nik Walker and Donna Lynne Champlin Will Lead Sweeney Todd at Hangar Theatre
  13. ↑ "Nik Walker on Why Hamilton Is 'The West Wing of Musical Theater'". Broadway.com. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  14. ↑ Marks, Peter (May 15, 2023). "Review | 'Spamalot' might be retro, but it's still a riot". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  15. ↑ Russo, Gillian (November 6, 2023). "Nik Walker and the 'Spamalot' cast bring their real-life friendship to the Round Table". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Nicholas Walker". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Spamalot's Nik Walker and Taran Killam Are Obsessed with Going to Theme Parks Together (Exclusive)". Peoplemag. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
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.