Max von Essen

Max von Essen (born January 11, 1974) is an American musical theatre and television actor, and vocalist.

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 began touring with Liza Minnelli. 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, and also starred in Dance of the Vampires alongside Michael Crawford. He also played the role of student revolutionary leader "Enjolras" in Les Misérables at the Broadhurst Theater on Broadway. In 2006, he was a soloist at the biggest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical gala to date, held in Tallinn, Estonia. He worked on the national tour of Xanadu as "Sonny", and in the Roundabout Off-Broadway production of Maury Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday at the Laura Pels Theatre in New York. As of 2015, von Essen plays the role of Parisian aristocrat Henri in the Broadway mounting of An American in Paris, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination.