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Brian Stokes Mitchell

Brian Stokes Mitchell
BrianStokesMitchell.jpg
Mitchell in 2007
Born (1957-10-31) October 31, 1957 (age 59)
Seattle, Washington
Occupation Actor, composer, vocalist
Years active 1979–present
Spouse(s) Allyson Tucker (1994–present)
Children Ellington Mitchell (son)
Website www.brianstokes.com

Brian Stokes Mitchell (born October 31, 1957) is an American stage, film and television actor and singer. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the early 1990s. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2000 for his performance in Kiss Me, Kate.

Mitchell was born in Seattle, Washington, the youngest of four children of George Mitchell, an electronics engineer, and his wife Lillian, a school administrator. Mitchell grew up at various U.S. military bases overseas, where his father was a civilian engineer for the U.S. Navy. As a teenager, he lived in San Diego, California, where he began acting in school musicals. He did not attend college, having begun performing professionally in high school, although he did have private teachers in both acting and voice in his teen years. He has said that he studied film scoring, orchestration, and conducting through UCLA. Prior to Ragtime, he was known professionally as Brian Mitchell.

Mitchell first performed on Broadway in the musical Mail in 1988, with music by Michael Rupert and lyrics by Jerry Colker, winning the Theatre World award. His Broadway credits include an all-black revival of George and Ira Gershwin's Oh, Kay! (1990),Jelly's Last Jam (1992) based on the works of jazz artist Jelly Roll Morton and Kander and Ebb's Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993).

He performed the role of Coalhouse Walker Jr, in the musical Ragtime, which opened on Broadway in January 1998. He received a 1998 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He appeared in the 1999 revival of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate as Fred Graham / Petruchio, winning the Tony Award; King Hedley II (2001) (Tony Award nomination); and Man of La Mancha (2002) (Tony Award nomination).


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