Ben Levi Ross

Benjamin Levi Ross^[1] (born January 15, 1998)^[2] is an American stage actor and singer. He^[a] is best known for his work in the Tony Award winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, where he was Evan on Broadway and in the national tour.

Ben Levi Ross
Born	(1998-01-15) January 15, 1998 (age 27)
Education	Carnegie Mellon University
Occupations	Actor singer
Years active	2017–present

Early life and education

Ross was born to a Jewish family on January 15, 1998, and grew up in Santa Monica, California.^[2][3] He attended Santa Monica High School, where he was active in his school's theater program. In 2016, he was named a Presidential Scholar of the Arts as part of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.^[4][5] He was also a grand prize finalist for the 2016 Music Center Spotlight awards.^[6][7] Following high school, he attended Carnegie Mellon University for a year and a half.^[8]

Career

At an audition for the play The Low Road at New York's Public Theater, Ross was noticed by Dear Evan Hansen director Michael Greif, who told Ross that he would be great as an understudy in the cast of Dear Evan Hansen. Soon after, he joined Dear Evan Hansen's cast, and made his Broadway debut as the character Jared. Ross then spent ten months understudying for the roles of Evan, Connor, and Jared.^[8][9] In 2018, he left the Broadway company and joined the first national tour of the show in the titular role.^[10][11] He left the production on September 15, 2019.^{[12][non-primary source needed]}

From January 29 to February 3, 2020, Ross starred as Henry in the Kennedy Center's production of Next to Normal.^[13] In 2021, Ross appeared in the film Tick, Tick... Boom! as Freddy.^[14]

From March to May 2022, he returned to the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen in the title role of Evan Hansen for a limited engagement.^[15]

In the summer of 2024, Ross starred as Nick Carraway in Florence Welch's Gatsby: An American Myth at the American Repertory Theatre.^[16] Later that year in the fall, he portrayed Mother's Younger Brother in the New York City Center's Encores! production of Ragtime opposite Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy and Colin Donnell.^[17] He joined the cast of the CBS drama Elsbeth in season two, in a recurring role as title character Elsbeth Tascioni's son Teddy.^[18] He's set to reprise his Ragtime role beginning in September 2025 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in a Broadway revival set to run through January 2026.^[19]

Personal life

Ross is gay and non-binary, using they/them and he/him pronouns.^[20][21]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2021	Tick, Tick... Boom!	Freddy	Film
2024	Elsbeth	Teddy Tascioni	7 episodes	[22]

Theater credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2017–18	Dear Evan Hansen	Evan / Jared / Connor (understudy)	Music Box Theater, Broadway	[8]
2018–19		Evan Hansen	National tour	[9][10]
2020	Next to Normal	Henry	Kennedy Center	[13]
2022	Dear Evan Hansen	Evan Hansen	Music Box Theater, Broadway	[15]
2024	The Connector	Ethan Dobson	MCC Theater, Off-Broadway	[23]
	Gatsby: An American Myth	Nick Carraway	American Repertory Theatre	[16]
	Ragtime	Mother's Younger Brother	New York City Center, Off-Broadway	[17]
2025	The Connector	Ethan Dobson	Webster Hall	[24]
2025–26	Ragtime	Mother's Younger Brother	Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway	[19]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Show	Result	Ref.
2019	BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards	Best Leading Actor in a Musical - Tour	Dear Evan Hansen	Won	[25]
	BroadwayWorld Washington D.C. Awards	Best Actor in a Musical - Large Professional Theatre		Won	[26]
2020	Eliot Norton Awards	Outstanding Visiting Musical Performance		Won	[27][28]

See also

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City
• NYC Pride March

Notes

1. Ross uses he/him and they/them pronouns. This article uses masculine pronouns for consistency.