Tony Award winner JOHN LLOYD YOUNG originated the role of "Frankie Valli" in Broadway's Tony Award winning Best Musical, JERSEY BOYS. As Valli, Young garnered unprecedented accolades from New York and national media, including one of the most exciting New York Times reviews ever written for an actor making a Broadway debut. Mr. Young went on to win the Lead Actor Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards, becoming the only American actor in history to win all four leading actor awards for a Broadway debut. Mr. Young sings lead vocals on the Platinum, Grammy Award-winning JERSEY BOYS Original Cast Album. Young's other honors for JERSEY BOYS include a caricature at the world-famous Sardi's Restaurant, being named Person of the Week by ABC World News Tonight, and being chosen for prestigious "Best of " lists by Entertainment Weekly, Reader's Digest and The New York Times.
Now a resident of Los Angeles, Young played to sold-out crowds of 17,000-plus as "Marius" in LES MISERABLES at the Hollywood Bowl and was the first-ever guest star invited to appear on Fox-TV's Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning hit, GLEE.
Before JERSEY BOYS, Young was a New York theatre actor in plays including the New York-area premiere of Michael Healey's THE DRAWER BOY, with Frasier's John Mahoney; and he was named one of the Best Featured Actors in a Play by the NJ Star-Ledger as "Danny Saunders" in Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok's dramatic adaptation of THE CHOSEN, opposite Theodore Bikel, directed by David Ellenstein. New York Theatre: "Charlie" in Julia Jordan's THE SUMMER OF THE SWANS for director Joe Calarco (Lucille Lortel Theatre), "Moritz" in the Douglas Langworthy translation of Wedekind’s SPRING AWAKENING; and nail-biting number theorist "Claudio" in Rinne Groff’s THE FIVE HYSTERICAL GIRLS THEOREM, for Obie-winning Target Margin Theatre, directed by David Herskovits.
Mr. Young has played Carnegie Hall, the White House, Lincoln Center, New Year's Eve in Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, the New York City Marathon, Yankee Stadium, the Staples Center, the Hollywood Bowl, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, McCarter Theatre Center, Kennedy Center and New York's Town Hall. Television: FOX's GLEE, NBC’s LAW & ORDER, and appearances on CBS TV's Late Show with David Letterman, ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly, A&E's Breakfast with the Arts, Entertainment Tonight, Celebrity Jeopardy, and several times on NBC's Today Show (including Katie Couric's highly-rated farewell). Member: William Inge Festival National Advisory Board. Co-chair: Actors Fund of America National Advisory Board. Graduate: Brown University.
Young debuted his visual art in a show at Grammy-winning songwriter Allee Willis's home, Willis Wonderland, in May 2010. The show, "Food for Thought" acted as a fundraiser for AIDS Project Los Angeles, was a popular success, and was covered by the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Young's art is now represented by the Hamilton-Selway Fine Art Gallery in Hollywood, CA and on the East Coast at Boca Raton, FL's Elaine Baker Gallery. His first art commission, "Table at Spago" (2011), hangs at the famed Beverly Hills, CA restaurant, Spago.
Young proudly and actively supports charities including Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, amfAR, Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) and the Actors Fund of America.
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