Santino Fontana (born March 21, 1982) is an American actor and singer. He has received a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

, two

Drama Desk Awards The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

, an

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

, Lortel Award,

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

, and

Clarence Derwent Award The Clarence Derwent Awards are theatre awards given annually by the Actors' Equity Association on Broadway in the United States and by Equity, the performers' union, in the West End in the United Kingdom. Clarence Derwent (23 March 1884 – 6 Aug ...

in a mix of straight plays and musicals. A two-time Tony Award nominee and three-time Drama Desk Award nominee, Fontana won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, and Outer Critics Circle Award for his lead performance as Michael Dorsey in the stage adaptation of ''

Tootsie ''Tootsie'' is a 1982 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Dustin Hoffman. Its supporting cast includes Pollack, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, Charles Durning, George Ga ...

''. Fontana is known to film audiences as the voice of Prince Hans in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's 2013 animated film '' Frozen''. Fontana has appeared on television as Greg Serrano on seasons 1 and 2 of ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

'' and David Saperstein in ''

Shades of Blue Varieties of the color blue may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness), or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and sha ...

'' with Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta.

Early life and education

Fontana was born on March 21, 1982, in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

, to Sharon Marie Fontana (née Simarro; born 1951) and Ernest John Fontana (born 1948). His mother is an elementary school teacher and his father is an agronomist. He has one sister. He is of one quarter Spanish, one quarter Portuguese, and one half Italian descent. Fontana graduated from Richland High School in

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby c ...

. Fontana studied the arts at the Academy of Children's Theatre in his youth, located in Richland, Washington. As a teenager he studied Theatre Arts at Interlochen Arts Camp at

Interlochen Center for the Arts Interlochen Center for the Arts is a non-profit corporation which operates arts education institutions and performance venues in northwest Michigan. It is situated on a campus in Interlochen, Michigan, roughly southwest of Traverse City. In ...

. He is a graduate of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions between Sir Tyrone Gut ...

BFA Actor Training Program.

Acting career

In 2005, as a member of the Essentials, Fontana co-wrote the musical comedy '' Perfect Harmony'', and originated the role of Philip Fellowes V. In 2006, he starred as Hamlet in

The Guthrie Theatre The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions between Sir Tyrone Gut ...

's performance of the Shakespearean classic, before moving to New York City to star as Matt in the Off-Broadway revival of ''

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neigh ...

''. His

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 was '' Sunday in the Park with George'' in 2007. Fontana originated the role of Tony in the Broadway production of ''

Billy Elliot ''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy wh ...

'' from October 1, 2008 to July 4, 2009. He was awarded the 2010

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his work in ''

Brighton Beach Memoirs ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy. It precedes '' Biloxi Blues'' and ''Broadway Bound''. Productions ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' had a pre-Broadway ...

''. He starred as Prince Topher in

Rodgers & Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular ...

's ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'' on Broadway, for which he was nominated for a

Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is awarded to the actor who was voted as the best actor in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been given since 1948, but the nominees who did no ...

. In 2013, he provided the voice of Prince Hans in the

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

film '' Frozen''. In 2015, Fontana became the first guest artist to perform three times in the space of one year with the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square where he met the cast of ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

''. Fontana also joined the cast of the CW romantic musical comedy-drama ''

'' that same year. On November 11, 2016, it was announced that Fontana was leaving the TV series after his one-year contract with the CW. He starred as Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels in the stage musical adaptation of the film ''

'', which premiered in Chicago at the

Cadillac Palace Theatre The Cadillac Palace Theatre (originally known as the New Palace Theatre) is operated by Broadway In Chicago, a Nederlander company. It is located at 151 West Randolph Street in the Chicago Loop area. History The theater opened in 1926 as the New ...

from September 11 to October 14, 2018. The musical opened on Broadway on April 23, 2019 and closed on January 5, 2020. Direction was by

Scott Ellis Scott Ellis (born April 19, 1957) is an American stage director, actor, and television director. Biography Ellis graduated from Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University) in Chicago.

with music and lyrics by

David Yazbek David Norman Yazbek (born 1961) 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 Bre ...

and book by Robert Horn. Fontana won the

Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is awarded to the actor who was voted as the best actor in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been given since 1948, but the nominees who did no ...

for the production. In 2022, Fontana co-starred in the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

film ''Just One Kiss'' with actress

Krysta Rodriguez Krysta Anne Rodriguez (born July 23, 1984) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Ana Vargas in the NBC series '' Smash'', Summer Henderson in the NBC series '' Trial & Error'', Maxine Griffin in the ABC series '' ...

Personal life

Fontana began dating actress Jessica Hershberg in mid-2011. The couple met backstage at the Birdland jazz club, where both were performing.Cowan, Alison Leigh
"Jessica Hershberg and Santino Fontana: A Real-Life Fairy Tale"
''The New York Times'', October 4, 2015 They became engaged in September 2014 and married in September 2015.McPhee, Ryan
"He Has Found Her! Tony Nominee Santino Fontana & Broadway's Jessica Hershberg Are Engaged"
broadway.com, September 24, 2014

Theatre credits

Broadway

Other theatre

Filmography

Film

Television/web series

Discography

Audiobooks

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * *
Santino Fontana biography for The Neil Simon Plays

Off Off Broadway Online interview, 2006

A new prince takes the 'Hamlet' throne
MNDaily.com, 2006
"Who Knew? Hamlet graduated from CLA" on page 9, Reach magazine, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota

Santino Fontana's thread on Friends of Billy Elliot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Santino 1982 births American male stage actors Drama Desk Award winners Living people University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers Male actors from California People from Richland, Washington Male actors from Washington (state) People from Stockton, California American baritones American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American people of Italian descent American people of Portuguese descent American people of Spanish descent American male television actors American male web series actors Audiobook narrators Tony Award winners