Jelani Alladin (born August 6, 1992) is an American actor, singer, and dancer. In his Broadway debut, he originated the role of

Kristoff Kristoff is a version of Kristopher (Scandinavian, Greek): respelling of Christopher. People * Kristoff St. John (1966-2019), American actor. * Ivan Kristoff (born 1968), aviator, rescue worker, and rope access expert * Kristoff Raczyñski (born ...

in the '' Frozen'' musical in 2018.

Early life

Alladin grew up in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. He attended high school in

New Canaan New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

, Connecticut, where he was an athlete and a performer, playing lacrosse and participating in track as well as performing lead roles such as the Emcee in ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

'' and The Cat in the Hat in ''

Seussical ''Seussical'' is a musical comedy by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, based on the many children's stories of Dr. Seuss, with most of its plot being based on ''Horton Hears a Who!'', '' Gertrude McFuzz'', and ''Horton Hatches the Egg'' while inc ...

''. He then attended the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

, where he studied a variety of acting styles including cinema acting, song and dance acting, and vocal performance.

Career

Alladin starred in the

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

show ''Sweetee'' as Cat Jones and received the San Francisco Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actor as Pharus in ''Choir Boy''. Other regional credits include ''

I and You I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

'' (TheatreSquared), ''

The History Boys ''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances were staged be ...

'' (Palmbeach Dramaworks), ''

Violet Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...

'' (Clarence Brown Theatre), and the world premiere of ''Josephine'' (Asolo Rep). Alladin has also appeared Off-Broadway at

York Theatre York Theatre is an off-Broadway theatre company based in East Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In its 50th year, York Theatre is dedicated to the production of new musicals and concert productions of forgotten musicals from the past. Each seas ...

in the New York City premiere of ''Lord Tom'' and a revival of ''Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope''. In Alladin's

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut, he played the role of Kristoff in the 2018 musical '' Frozen''. He left ''Frozen'' after a year to play the role of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

in the musical ''

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alladin, Jelani Living people 1992 births People from Brownsville, Brooklyn American male stage actors