Forrest McClendon is an American stage actor, singer and professor. McClendon 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 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination in 2011 for his portrayal of Mr. Tambo in the

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

, '' The Scottsboro Boys''. ''The Scottsboro Boys'' had marked McClendon's Broadway debut.

Biography

McClendon was born and raised in

Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County and Connecticut , coordinates ...

. He was raised in the Roodner Court housing projects in

South Norwalk South Norwalk is a neighborhood in Norwalk, Connecticut which corresponds to the city's Second Taxing District. Often referred to as SoNo, the neighborhood was originally settled as Old Well, then chartered as the city of South Norwalk on August ...

. His mother, Ruthie Mae Brown, still resides in Norwalk. He attended

Nathan Hale Middle School There are an assortment of public, private, and parochial schools in Norwalk, Connecticut. Post-secondary education There are four post-secondary schools within the city of Norwalk: * Norwalk Community College is in West Norwalk * Gibbs Coll ...

and graduated from Norwalk High School in 1983. McClendon received his first formal singing lessons from Lewis Cisto, a teacher in the Norwalk High School music department. He also received lessons from

Betty Jones Betty Jones (born 1930) was an American operatic spinto soprano, who did not begin her career until the age of forty-one. She died in Norwalk, Connecticut, on November 7, 2019 at the age of 89. Jones was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. Having b ...

, a Connecticut opera singer, and Cassandra Eaton, the music minister of Grace Baptist Church in Norwalk. He initially studied engineering at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. However, he switched majors to vocal studies, for which he obtained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

Career

In 1993, McClendon appeared

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

in ''Faith Journey''. He also appeared as

CC White ''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and other ...

in a 2005 Prince Music Theatre revival of '' Dreamgirls: The Musical'' in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania. He made his Broadway debut as Mr. Tambo in the 2010 musical, '' The Scottsboro Boys'', after appearing in the musical off-Broadway. The role led to McClendon's first

nomination in May 2011 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. In 2011, McClendon performed in a regional production of ''

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris ''Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' is a musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel. Brel's songs were translated into English by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman, who also provided the story. The original 1968 Off-Broadway produc ...

'' at the Two Rivers Theatre in

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York Metropolitan ...

. McClendon is a

faculty Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument) A faculty is a legal in ...

member at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...

and an adjunct

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the '' North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is ...

at the University of Arts in

. He is a resident of

East Lampeter Township East Lampeter Township is a township in central Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 17,834. East Lampeter Township is one of the six suburbs that border the city of Lancaster, all sharing the sa ...

, a suburb of

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population among ...

, as of 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcclendon, Forrest American male stage actors American male musical theatre actors Temple University faculty University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty University of Connecticut alumni Actors from Norwalk, Connecticut Musicians from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Living people Actors from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) Norwalk High School (Connecticut) alumni