Jim Brochu (born August 16, 1946) is an American

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, director, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. Brochu wrote and starred

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 tha ...

in '' Zero Hour'', a one-person play about the life and career of actor and comedian Zero Mostel, from 2009–2010. For this performance, he won the Drama Desk award for Outstanding Solo Performance.

Biography

Brochu was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He studied at

Carnegie-Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a Private university, private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became t ...

and received his B.A. from St. Francis College. His stage debut was in a production of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 nation ...

's ''

Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a Frame story, framing device, often referred to as the Induction (play), inducti ...

''. In 2005, he was nominated by the Los Angeles Ovation Awards as Best Actor in a Musical for ''The Big Voice'', an honor he won from both the Palm Springs Desert Star Awards and the Valley Theatre League ADA Awards. In 2007 and 2008, he and Steve Schalchlin co-wrote the musical ''The Big Voice: God or Merman'', which Brochu starred in

. Honor Moore of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' rated it highly. ''The Big Voice: God or Merman?'' was also given the Ovation Award as Best Musical, presented to Brochu and Schalchlin by Jerry Herman. In June and November of 2018, Brochu revived his play ''Zero Hour'' for a limited time at the Theatre at Saint Clement’s in New York City and in The Actors’ Temple in Midtown Manhattan. Brochu was a friend of

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by ''Time (magazine), Time'' in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for h ...

and is the author of her

unauthorized biography An unauthorized biography, sometimes called a kiss-and-tell, or a tell-all, is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after ...

, titled ''Lucy in the Afternoon'', and in this capacity, appeared on an episode of ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television series created by Peter Rees (producer), Peter Rees and produced by Beyond International in Australia. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast in ...

''.

Selected filmography

References

External links

*
Official site

"Jim Brochu at the Internet Off-Broadway Database listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brochu, Jim 1946 births Carnegie Mellon University alumni Male actors from Brooklyn 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male stage actors St. Francis College alumni Living people