Kiril Jacob Kulish (born February 16, 1994) is an American actor, singer and dancer who is best known for portraying the title role in the original American production of ''

Billy Elliot the Musical ''Billy Elliot: The Musical'' is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a m ...

'', which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, making him one of the youngest winners of the award.

Early and personal life

Kulish was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on February 16, 1994. His parents, Raisa Kulish and Phil Axelrod, are Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. His older brother, Victor, is a singer/songwriter and recording engineer, and his older sister Beata is a TV/film producer. He grew up speaking

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

, and

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 ...

. He started studying ballet at age five and ballroom dancing at age 8. He studied at the San Diego Academy of Ballet, and was the youngest male to be admitted to their junior company. Kiril was the winner of the Junior division Grand Prix at the Youth America Grand Prix in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and won the Hope Award in the Pre-Competitive division in 2006. Kiril Kulish won first place in Latin Ballroom at the USA National Dance Championships in 2006 and 2007. In 2012 and 2013 Kiril Kulish became the Youth USA Champion in Latin Dance Sport and will represent USA in Beijing and Paris .

Acting career

''Billy Elliot the Musical''

At a press launch in New York on April 22, 2008, it was announced that Kulish would be one of three boys to play the title role in the original Broadway production of ''

'', along with David Álvarez and

Trent Kowalik Trent Matthias Kowalik (born February 22, 1995) is an American actor, singer and dancer. After making his theatrical debut as Billy in 2007 in the West End production of ''Billy Elliot the Musical'', he went on to co-originate the same role in t ...

. Kulish performed in the musical's first preview performance on October 1, 2008. On June 7, 2009, Kulish, along with

and David Álvarez, won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, becoming one of the youngest winners of the award. In all, ''

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 ...

'' was nominated for 15 Tony Awards, and won 10, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. Kulish's last performance in ''Billy Elliot'' was on Saturday October 3, 2009.

Later Work

Film: Sonata (Pre-Production) Landon Goldberg Crossing Young Andrei Damaged Brad Choreographer Chasing Mem’ries Musical at the Geffen Playhouse starring Tyne Daly and Robert Forster Television: Dancing with the Stars Pro HBO Anthology Series Secret Service Style Agent-Co Star The 63rd Annual Tony Awards Himself Good Morning America Himself NBC Sports Special Himself ABC The View Billy Elliot ABC Live with Regis and Kelly Himself ABC Live with Regis and Michael Himself CBS Morning Show Himself ABC Daytime Salutes BC/EFA Himself (Full List Available upon request) Theater/Performance: “Baz — A Musical Tour de Force” Las Vegas (Baz Lehrman show) In late 2009, Kulish performed the lead role in the ballet

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

. In 2010, he attended the ballroom championship at USA Dance Southwest Regional Championship in Long Beach, CA. On October 27, 2012, Kiril performed alongside

Jon Secada Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez (born October 4, 1961), better known as Jon Secada, is a Cuban-born American singer. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 15 million records, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. His music fus ...

Debbie Gravitte Debbie Shapiro Gravitte is an American actress and singer. She was born in Los Angeles, California. Career Gravitte made her Broadway debut in the chorus of '' They're Playing Our Song'' in 1979. She performed on Broadway in '' Blues in the Nig ...

Liz Callaway Liz Callaway (born April 13, 1961) is an American actress, singer and recording artist, who is best known for having provided the singing voices of many female characters in animated films, such as Anya/Anastasia in ''Anastasia'', Odette in ''Th ...

, and a host of award-winning singers from around the world in ''Loving the Silent Tears: A New Musical'' at the Shrine Theater in Los Angeles. In 2016, Kulish joined season 22 of

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

as a professional dancer in their troupe. Kulish currently resides in San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York.

Theatre credits

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulish, Kiril 1994 births American male child actors American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American male stage actors Jewish American male actors Living people Male actors from San Diego Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners American male dancers American male musical theatre actors 21st-century American Jews