John Lloyd Mills Young (born July 4, 1975) is an American actor and singer. In 2006, he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. ...

in Broadway's '' Jersey Boys''. He is the only American actor to date to have received a Lead Actor in a Musical Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Award for a Broadway debut. Young sang lead vocals on the Grammy Award-winning '' Jersey Boys'' cast album, certified Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. Young reprised his role as Frankie Valli in Warner Brothers' film adaptation of ''Jersey Boys'', directed by

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

and released June 20, 2014. Young was appointed by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

to the

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was an advisory committee to the White House on cultural issues. It worked directly with the Administration and the three primary cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Art ...

. He was sworn-in by Supreme Court Justice

Elena Kagan Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 10, 2010, and has served since August 7, 2010. Kagan ...

on November 21, 2013. He resigned from the President's Committee in August, 2017, co-signing a letter of resignation that said in reference to President Trump, "Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions."

Early life

Young was born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, the son of Rosemarie Joan (Cianciola) and Karl Bruce Young, a Strategic Air Command tanker-squadron commander. His mother died when he was two years old. His father had

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Welsh and German ancestry, and his mother was of Italian descent. He was raised partly in Plattsburgh, NY, attending Plattsburgh High School and acting in their drama department. He is a graduate of Brown University.

Career

After moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Young worked his way up through the ranks of the theater scene with roles in numerous regional and

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 ...

plays, including the New York-area premiere of Michael Healey's ''The Drawer Boy'' with actor

John Mahoney Charles John Mahoney (June 20, 1940 – February 4, 2018) was an English-born American actor. He was known for playing Martin Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Frasier'' (1993–2004), and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role in 2000. Mahoney ...

; "Charlie" in

Julia Jordan Julia Jordan is an American playwright, television writer, and screenwriter. She is a graduate of Barnard College, class of 1989, and received a master's degree from Trinity College Dublin. Biography Jordan was born in Chicago and spent much of h ...

's ''

The Summer of the Swans ''Summer of the Swans'' is a children's novel by Betsy Byars about fourteen-year-old Sara Godfrey's search for her missing, mentally challenged brother Charlie. It won the Newbery Medal in 1971. ''Summer of the Swans'' was adapted for television ...

''; "Moritz" in the Douglas Langworthy translation of Wedekind's '' Spring Awakening''; and "Claudio" in Rinne Groff's ''The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem'' for the Target Margin Theatre. He was named one of the Best Featured Actors in a Play by the

New Jersey Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the ''Staten Island Advance'', all of whi ...

as "Danny Saunders" in Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok's dramatic adaptation of Potok's book,

The Chosen Chosen or The Chosen may refer to: The chosen ones *Chosen people, people who believe they have been chosen by a higher power to do a certain thing including **Jews as the chosen people Books * ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel), a 1967 novel by Chaim ...

, opposite Theodore Bikel, directed by David Ellenstein. He failed to land the part of

in the pre-Broadway run of '' Jersey Boys'', but a year later and after several more auditions, he was asked to headline the show on Broadway, where he played the role for over two years. During his tenure at '' Jersey Boys'', which now has several companies playing worldwide, Young performed at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

, the New York City Marathon, New Year's Eve in Times Square,

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

and

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...

. Young's run with Jersey Boys concluded on November 9, 2007, followed shortly thereafter by a sold-out-in-a-day solo concert debut at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

. After moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Young starred as Marius in an all-star production of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'' at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

and was the first guest star invited to appear on ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

''. Young debuted his visual art in May 2010 in "Food for Thought," a show benefiting AIDS Project Los Angeles, at Willis Wonderland, the home of Young's friend, Grammy-winning songwriter Allee Willis. Young's art is represented by

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

's Hamilton-Selway Fine Art Gallery. His first art commission was for famed Beverly Hills, CA, restaurant, Spago. Young's debut album, "My Turn...", was released on July 3, 2012. The album was executive-produced by Dona R. Miller and Young's Under the Skyway Productions, with production from Tommy Faragher of

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

's hit show, ''

'', whose cover of " Teenage Dream" was the first song from the show to reach NO. 1 on the

Billboard Charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

. The album was expanded and re-released with eight new tracks in 2014. He made his debut at New York's Cafe Carlyle in February 2013. Young reprised his Frankie Valli role in the Broadway production of ''Jersey Boys'' from July 3 - September 30, 2012. In March 2014, Young made his West End Theatre debut, starring in the musical's London production. He reprised the role in director Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of '' Jersey Boys'', which was released in June 2014. Young's extensive charity work includes frequent appearances with and support of

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) is an American nonprofit organization that raises funds for AIDS-related causes across the United States, headquartered in New York City. It is the theatre community's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. ...

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States established to provide the means to cure cystic fibrosis (CF) and ensure that those living with CF live long and productive lives. The Foundation prov ...

, amfAR, Paul Newman's

Hole in the Wall Gang The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang was a gang in the American Wild West, which took its name from the Hole-in-the-Wall Pass in Johnson County, Wyoming, where several outlaw gangs had their hideouts. Description The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang was not simp ...

, AIDS Project Los Angeles and the United Service Organization (

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

). Young has been a member of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

since 1995. He is a practitioner and student of Chinese Chan Buddhism.

Filmography

* ''

'' (2009) * ''

Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! ''Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!!'' is a 2009 comedy film directed, co-written, and produced by Evgeny Afineevsky and starring Lainie Kazan, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Pastore, John Lloyd Young, Jai Rodriguez, Bruce Vilanch, Fred Swink and Carmen Electra. The t ...

'' (2009) * '' Jersey Boys'' (2014)

Awards and nominations

Tony Awards

* Winner - 2006 Best Actor in a Musical '' Jersey Boys''

Drama Desk Awards

* Winner - 2006 Best Actor in a Musical '' Jersey Boys''

Outer Critics Circle Awards

* Winner - 2006 Best Actor in a Musical '' Jersey Boys''

Theatre World Awards

* Winner - 2006 Outstanding Broadway Debut '' Jersey Boys''

Grammy Awards

* Winner - 2006 Best Show Album '' Jersey Boys''

Drama League Award

* Nomination - 2006 Performer of the Year '' Jersey Boys''

References

External links

Official Website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, John Lloyd American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male television actors American people of English descent American people of German descent American people of Italian descent American people of Welsh descent Drama Desk Award winners Living people Tony Award winners 21st-century American male actors Male actors from Sacramento, California University of Salamanca alumni 1975 births Theatre World Award winners Brown University alumni