Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
John O'May
Australian actor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
John O'May is an American-born Australian actor, best known for his stage performances.
Early life
O'May was born at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, one of four children. He grew up with a love of reading and literature. At university he dabbled in theatre, learning acting, stagecraft and building sets. He became a teacher at Patapsco High School, where he himself had attended high school. He taught English literature for two and a half years. He eventually travelled overseas, and after visiting his sister in Australia and ended up staying.[1][2][3]
Remove ads
Career
Summarize
Perspective
In 1972, O'May auditioned for the role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind. He took singing lessons and found an agent. In 1973, he was offered an audition and role in Godspell, replacing John Waters as Judas. He created and performed in the revues Gershwin (with John Diedrich) in 1975 and The 20s and All That Jazz (with Diedrich and Caroline Gilmer) in 1977.[4]
O'May played Che Guevara in the original Australian cast of Evita which opened in Adelaide in April 1980.[5] In the 1980s he was a regular performer with the Melbourne Theatre Company, and played Bobby in Company for the Sydney Theatre Company in 1986 and Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore for the Victoria State Opera in 1987.[6]
He directed and starred in the musical Seven Little Australians in 1988.[7]
O'May played Monsieur André in the original Australian cast of The Phantom of the Opera which opened at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne in December 1990. He later performed each of the two manager characters in various productions over the subsequent decades.[1]
Other notable roles include Marvin in Falsettos in 1994 for the Sydney Theatre Company, Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl in 1999, John Wilkes Booth in Assassins in 1995, and Fredrik Egerman in A Little Night Music in 1997, both for the Melbourne Theatre Company. For the latter, he received a Green Room Award for male artist in a leading role.[2] In 2014 he appeared as Doctor Tambourri in Sondheim's Passion.[2] In 2022, he portrayed the Mysterious Man and Cinderella’s Father in Into the Woods in North Melbourne, Australia.[8]
Film credits include supporting roles in the films Starstruck and Rebel and the television opera The Divorce (2015).[9] In 2000, O’May guest-starred in season 2, episode 11, "Sponsorship and Media Discontent", of the ABC mockumentary, The Games.
Remove ads
Acting credits
Summarize
Perspective
Film
Television
Theatre
As actor
As writer/director
Remove ads
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads