Colton Ryan

Colton Ryan (born June 10, 1995) is an American actor and singer. He is known for his performance as Conrad Roy in Hulu's miniseries, The Girl from Plainville (2022), for which he garnered critical acclaim, and for playing Connor Murphy, a role which he understudied in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen and reprised in the 2021 film adaptation.^[1] He is also known for playing the main role of Samuel on the Apple TV+ series Little Voice and originating the roles of Gene Laine in Girl from the North Country and Jim Doyle in New York, New York, the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.^[2][3]

Colton Ryan
Ryan in October 2017
Born	(1995-06-10) June 10, 1995 (age 30) Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Education	Baldwin Wallace University (BFA)
Occupations	Actor singer
Years active	2015–present

Early life

Ryan was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. He attended the School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA) for grades four through twelve, where he majored in vocal music and minored in theatre.^[4] He also is a Governor's School for the Arts 2011 alumnus for musical theatre.^[4] His acting career took off in 2015 while attending Baldwin Wallace University, when he played Dickon in the Idaho Shakespeare Festival production of The Secret Garden.

Career

He made his Broadway debut in 2016 as the standby for Evan Hansen, Connor Murphy and Jared Kleinman in Dear Evan Hansen. He remained with the show until 2017, when he graduated with his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Baldwin Wallace University.^[5] That same year, he made his television debut in a guest role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and then played the recurring role of J.J. Elkins on the Showtime series Homeland the following year.

In 2019, he originated the role of White Rabbit / Alfred Hallam / March Hare in the Off-Broadway production of Alice By Heart and made his film acting debut in The Social Ones and Adam. In 2020, he starred in the Bob Dylan musical Girl from the North Country as Gene Laine, a role in which he originated in the 2018 Off-Broadway production, but the production was shut down that May due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6][7]

In 2020, he starred in the main role of Samuel on the Apple TV+ series Little Voice and as Bruce in the Amazon Studios film Uncle Frank. It was also announced that year that he would reprise the role of Connor Murphy in Stephen Chbosky's film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered as the Opening Night Gala Presentation of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, and was followed by a theatrical release on September 24, 2021.

In 2021, he was cast opposite Elle Fanning in the Hulu drama series The Girl from Plainville, based on the death of Conrad Roy.^[8] His work in the series received critical acclaim, with TV Guide listing it as one of the 20 best TV performances of 2022.^[9][10][11]

Ryan was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2023, for his performance as Jimmy Doyle in New York, New York.^[12]

Acting credits

Theatre

Year(s)	Title	Role	Location	Notes	Ref.
2015	The Secret Garden	Dickon	Idaho Shakespeare Festival	Regional	[13]
2016	My Fair Lady	Freddy Eynsford-Hill	Great Lakes Theater		[14][15]
	West Side Story	Tony	John Patrick Theatre		[16]
2016–2017	Dear Evan Hansen	s/b Evan Hansen s/b Connor Murphy s/b Jared Kleinman	Music Box Theater	Broadway	[17]
2018	Girl From the North Country	Gene Laine	The Public Theater	Off-Broadway	[17]
2019	Alice by Heart	White Rabbit / Alfred Hallam / March Hare	MCC Theater		[18]
	West Side Story	Tony	Lexington Opera House	Regional	[19]
2020	Girl From the North Country	Gene Laine	Belasco Theatre	Broadway	[17]
2022	The Pirates of Penzance	Frederic	American Airlines Theatre		[20]
2023	New York, New York	Jimmy Doyle	St. James Theatre		[21]
2024	Glory Days	Will	Symphony Space	Off-Broadway	[22]

Film

Year	Production	Role	Notes	Ref.
2019	The Social Ones	Dan Summers		[23]
2019	Adam	Brad
2020	Uncle Frank	Bruce		[24]
2021	Dear Evan Hansen	Connor Murphy
TBA	Untitled Jesse Eisenberg musical comedy		Filming	[25]

Television

Year	Production	Role	Notes	Ref.
2017	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Andrew Drake	Episode: "No Good Reason"	[26]
2018	Homeland	J.J. Elkins	3 episodes
2018	The Americans	Vince	Episode: "The Great Patriotic War"
2020	Little Voice	Samuel	Main role
2022	The Girl from Plainville	Conrad Roy	Lead role
2023	Poker Face	Jed	Episode: "The Night Shift"	[27]

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Project	Result	Ref.
2019	Theatre World Award	Outstanding Debut Performance	Girl from the North Country	Won	[28]
2023	Tony Award	Best Leading Actor in a Musical	New York, New York	Nominated	[29]