Max von Essen

Max von Essen (born January 11, 1974) is an American Tony Award nominated stage and screen actor, and vocalist. His Broadway credits include roles in An American in Paris, Anastasia, Evita, and Chicago. He also starred as Marvin in the United States national tour of Falsettos.

Max von Essen
Born	(1974-01-11) January 11, 1974 (age 51) Long Island, New York, U.S.
Education	South Side High School
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Occupation(s)	Actor, singer
Years active	1997–present
Notable work	An American in Paris
Parent(s)	Thomas Von Essen (father) Rita Von Essen (mother)
Relatives	Von Essen family

Life and career

Raised on Long Island, von Essen is a graduate of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and after graduation toured with Liza Minnelli.^[1] He is a member of the Von Essen family, who are part of the German and Swedish nobility. A son of Rita and Thomas Von Essen, who was the New York City Fire Commissioner during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he is the youngest of four children.^[2] He is openly gay.^[3]

He toured Europe in West Side Story and was a cast member of the U.S. national tour of Chicago. He made his Broadway debut in Jesus Christ Superstar in 2000 as Disciple and Jesus of Nazareth understudy.^[4] He appeared in Les Misérables on Broadway as the replacement for Fauchelevent and other roles,^[5] and starred in Dance of the Vampires alongside Michael Crawford in 2002.^[6] He played the role of student revolutionary leader Enjolras (replacement) in the Les Misérables Broadway revival in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theater.^[7]

In 2006, he was a soloist at the biggest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical gala to date, held in Tallinn, Estonia. He performed in the national tour of Xanadu as "Sonny" in 2008^[8] and in the Roundabout Theater Company Off-Broadway production of Maury Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday at the Laura Pels Theatre in 2011.^[9] In 2015, von Essen played the role of Parisian aristocrat Henri in the Broadway production of An American in Paris, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination.^[10]

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Brooklyn Lobster	Piano Player
2009	The Beautiful Life: TBL	Scott	1 episode
2010	Sex and the City 2	Wedding Chorus
2011-14	Submissions Only	Cameron Dante	Netflix series, 14 episodes
2012	Gossip Girl	Father Smythe	2 episodes
	Royal Pains	Hair	1 episode
2013-14	The Good Wife	Stephen Delaney	2 episodes
2014	Blonde	Man	Short
	Seven Lovers	Dan
2015	The Intern	Businessman at Starbucks #1
2022	Family Guy	Cruise Director, Waiter (voices)	2 episodes
2024	Law & Order	Rhett Richards	Episode: "Family Ties"

Theatre credits

Broadway

Source: Internet Broadway Database

Year(s)	Production	Role	Location
2000	Jesus Christ Superstar	Disciple; u/s Jesus Christ	Ford Center for the Performing Arts
2002	Dance of the Vampires	Alfred	Minskoff Theatre
2003	Les Misérables	Fauchelevent / Jean Prouvaire / Ensemble; u/s Marius Pontmercy (replacement)	Imperial Theatre
2007–2008		Enjolras (replacement)	Broadhurst Theatre
2012	Evita	Agustin Magaldi; u/s Che	Marquis Theatre
		Che (replacement)
2012–2013		Agustin Magaldi; u/s Che
2015–2016	An American in Paris	Henri Baurel	Palace Theatre
2017–2018	Anastasia	Gleb Vaganov (replacement)	Broadhurst Theatre
2023–2025	Chicago	Billy Flynn (replacement)	Ambassador Theatre

National and international tours

Year(s)	Production	Role
1997	Liza Minnelli in Concert	Ensemble
1998	West Side Story (European tour)	Tony
1999	Chicago	Mary Sunshine
2008	Xanadu[11]	Sonny
2019	Falsettos[12]	Marvin

Off-Broadway

Year(s)	Production	Role	Location
1999	The Fantasticks[13]	Matt	Sullivan Street Playhouse
2001	John & Paul	Un­known	New Victory Theater
2004	Finian's Rainbow[14]	Woody Mahoney	Irish Repertory Theatre
2011	Death Takes a Holiday[15][16]	Corrado Montelli	Laura Pels Theatre (Roundabout Theatre Company)
	Hello Again[17]	The Soldier	Transport Group
2016	The Secret Garden	Dr. Neville Craven	Lucille Lortel Theatre
2017	Yours Unfaithfully[18]	Stephen Meredith	Beckett Theatre (Mint Theater Company)

Regional

Year(s)	Production	Role	Location
1997	A Christmas Carol	Un­known	Mill Mountain Theatre
1999	Jesus Christ Superstar	Un­known	Connecticut Repertory Theatre
2001	Blood Brothers[19]	Eddie	Downtown Cabaret Theatre (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
	Hair	Claude	Bay Street Theatre
2002	My Fair Lady	Freddy Eynsford-Hill	Paper Mill Playhouse[20]
2003			Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera[21]
	Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat	Joseph	Sacramento Music Circus
	Children of Eden	Abel/Ham	The York Theatre Company
2004	Auntie Mame		Bay Street Theatre[22]
			Ogunquit Playhouse[23]
	Jesus Christ Superstar[24]	Jesus Christ	Sacramento Music Circus
	Dorian[25]	Dorian	NoHo Arts Center (North Hollywood, CA)
2005	Cabaret[26]	The Emcee	Sacramento Music Circus
	The Baker's Wife[27]	Dominique	Paper Mill Playhouse
	The Secret Garden[28]	Captain Albert Lennox	Manhattan Center
2006	Mame[29]	Patrick	The Kennedy Center
	West Side Story	Tony	Theatre Under the Stars[30]
2008			Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera[31]
	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street[32]	Anthony Hope	Sacramento Music Circus
2010	Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat	Joseph
2013	My Fair Lady	Freddy Eynsford-Hill	Kennedy Center
2022	The Secret Garden	Archibald Craven	UC Davis Health Pavilion
	42nd Street	Julian Marsh	Goodspeed Musicals

Awards and nominations

Source: IBDB^[33]

Year	Award Ceremony	Category	Show	Result
2015	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical	An American in Paris	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Broadway.com Audience Choice Award	Favorite Featured Actor in a Musical		Nominated