Ethan Samuel Slater (born June 2, 1992) is an American actor, singer, and composer, best known for his role as

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character ...

in the musical of the same name, for which he received a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

nomination and won a Drama Desk Award in 2018. During his career he has also acted in musicals directed by

Kathleen Marshall Kathleen Marshall (born September 28, 1962) is an American director, choreographer, and creative consultant. Life and career Born in Madison, Wisconsin, she graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1980 and ...

Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as '' Diner'' (1982); ''The Natural'' (1984); '' Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987); ...

John Tartaglia John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American actor, singer, and puppeteer. Early life Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 19 ...

Bartlett Sher Bartlett B. Sher (born March 27, 1959) is an American theatre director. '' The New York Times'' has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but also in the international world of opera" ...

and John Doyle.

Early life and career

Ethan Samuel Slater was born on June 2, 1992, in

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He is the third child of Jay Slater, an employee at the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

, and lawyer Ellen Goldmuntz, and is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. After attending

Georgetown Day School Georgetown Day School (GDS) is an independent coeducational PK-12 school located in Washington, D.C. The school educates 1,075 elementary, middle, and high school students in northwestern Washington, D.C. Russell Shaw is the current Head of Sc ...

, his family moved to

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...

. Slater's mother died when he was seven, which he describes as a "really big, formative thing in my life. She had left this huge imprint on me, even though I had so few memories." He graduated from

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, and studied

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

. During his time in college, he auditioned to apprentice at a

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

workshop, which then got him an audition in front of director

Tina Landau Tina Landau (born May 21, 1962) is an American playwright and theatre director. Known for her large-scale, musical, and ensemble-driven work, Landau's productions have appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, most extensively at the ...

. Slater graduated from Vassar with a

Bachelor of Arts degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Drama in 2014. His first theater appearance was at the

New York Musical Theatre Festival The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual three-week summer festival that operated from 2004 to 2019. It presented more than 30 new musicals a year in New York City's midtown theater district. More than half were chosen by leading theate ...

in July 2015, in which he starred as Luis in the musical ''Claudio Quest'', directed by

, earning a nomination for the festival's award in the category for Best Individual Performance. Between September 30 and October 24, 2015, he starred in ''Please excuse my dear aunt Sally'' in the One Year Lease Theater Company. In December 2015 he joined the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, acting in

's play ''Diner'', directed and choreographed by

. During the same period he appeared in several short films, including ''Lightning Bugs in a Jar'' and ''Evol''. In 2016 Slater was cast in the lead role

Kyle Jarrow Kyle Jarrow (born October 7, 1979) is a Los Angeles–based writer and rock musician. Career Writing Jarrow's writing career began in theater, winning an Obie Award with director Alex Timbers in 2004 for ''A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's ...

's musical of the same name directed by Tina Landau at the Oriental Theatre in

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. The musical achieved success and was praised by theater critics, bringing the production to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the Palace Theatre in New York between 2017 and 2018. For his performance, Slater earned a

nomination for Best Actor in a Musical in 2018, winning in the respective category at the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award. He is also awarded the

Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945–1946 theatre se ...

for Best Performance in a Broadway Debut in 2018. Between 2018 and 2019 he appeared in a few episodes of television series, including ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''Murphy Brown'', '' Instinct'' and ''

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' is an American period comedy-drama television series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017, on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it stars Rachel Brosnahan as ...

''. On March 4, 2019, Slater was cast by director

in the theatrical special of ''

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

'' at the

Lincoln Center Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT), the Beaumont is the only Broad ...

in New York. Between 2021 and 2022 he starred in the musical ''Assassins'' with the direction of John Doyle at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater in New York, playing

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...

. His performance earned him a

Lucille Lortel Awards The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres ...

nomination for Best Performance. In 2022 it was announced that he will play Boq in the two-part film adaptation of the musical ''Wicked'', directed by Jon M. Chu.

Personal life

In 2012, Slater began dating his former high school sweetheart Lilly Jay. They married in 2018, and their son was born in 2022. In 2023, Slater filed for divorce from his wife.

Works

Film

Television

Web

Theatre

Discography

Cast recordings

Solo recordings

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * Living people 1992 births Male actors from New York City Male actors from Washington, D.C. American male musical theatre actors American male stage actors Vassar College alumni Jewish American male actors Georgetown Day School alumni Theatre World Award winners Jewish singers 21st-century American Jews {{US-actor-stub