Matthew Rhys "Matt" Leisy is a British-American theatre, television, and film actor.

Biography and training

Matt Leisy was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up in Surrey, England. He attended the

American Boychoir School The American Boychoir School was a boarding/day middle school located in Princeton, New Jersey, and the home of the American Boychoir. The school originated as the Columbus Boychoir in Columbus, Ohio. In 1950, the school relocated after receivin ...

and high school at

The Pembroke Hill School The Pembroke Hill School (usually referred to as Pembroke Hill) is a secular, coeducational, independent preparatory school for about 1,200 students in early years (age 2 years) through high school, separated into four sections: early years-pre ...

in Kansas City, Missouri. Leisy graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and continues to study at The Barrow Group in New York City.

Career

Matt Leisy played Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny in the World Tour of ''

The Phantom of the Opera The Phantom of the Opera may refer to: Novel * The Phantom of the Opera (novel), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (novel), 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux Characters * Erik (The Phantom of the Opera), Erik (''The Phantom of the Opera''), the title char ...

''. Recent credits include The Light in the Piazza with New York City Center

Encores! Encores! is a Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, Tony-honored concert series dedicated to reviving United States, American Musical theatre, musicals, usually with their original orchestrations. Presented by New York City Center since 1994, E ...

, the

Lucille Lortel Award 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 ...

-winning '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' as Beadle Bamford and the standby for Anthony Hope at the

Barrow Street Theatre Barrow Street Theatre is the name of both a 199-seat Off-Broadway theatre located in New York City's historic Greenwich house, Greenwich House at 27 Barrow Street and a production company of the same name. From 2003 to 2018, the venue was leased ...

and the Broadway First National Tour of the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a 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 ...

-winning musical ''

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder ''A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder'' is a musical comedy with music by Steven Lutvak, lyrics by Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman, and a book by Freedman. It is based on the 1907 fictional novel ''Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal'' b ...

''. Other career highlights include the regional premiere of

The Inheritance (play) ''The Inheritance'' is a play by Matthew López, inspired by the 1910 novel ''Howards End'' by E. M. Forster. The play premiered in London at the Young Vic in March 2018, before transferring to Broadway in November 2019. Productions Off-We ...

, Mr. Bingley in ''Pride and Prejudice'' at

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is a regional theatre in the United States. It was founded in 1959 by college student Gerald Covell and was one of the first regional theatres in the United States. Located in Eden Park, the first play tha ...

, Algernon in ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1893) and ''An Ideal Husban ...

'' at

Arizona Theatre Company The Arizona Theatre Company is an American nonprofit regional theater company operating in Phoenix, Arizona. History The Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) was founded by Sandy Rosenthal in 1966 as the Arizona Civic Theatre. It originally performe ...

, Ken in John Logan's ''

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

'' at the Clarence Brown Theatre, Richard Hannay in '' The 39 Steps'', Younger Brother in ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

'', and Leonard Vole in '' Witness for the Prosecution'' at Bristol Riverside Theatre, Scripps in Alan Bennett's ''

The History Boys ''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London's West End on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances w ...

'' at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and the

Arden Theatre Company The Arden Theatre Company is a professional regional theatre company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company includes three theatres: the 175-seat Arcadia Stage and the 360-seat F. Otto Haas Stage, located in the main property at 40 ...

, and Young Scrooge in ''A Christmas Carol'' at the

Alabama Shakespeare Festival The Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) is among the ten largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. The festival is permanently housed in the Carolyn Blount Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama. ASF puts on 6-9 productions annually, typically includin ...

. He made his solo concert debut at Helzberg Hall of the

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is in Downtown Kansas City, downtown Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at 16th and Broadway, near the city's Power & Light District, the T-Mobile Center and the Crossroads, Kansas Cit ...

in November 2021. Matt Leisy opened for

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Will ...

in November 2023 at

Leisy starred in the Off-Broadway production of ''

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two ne ...

'' in the role of Matt. His film credits include '' The Friend,'' ''Life Interrupted'', ''Tell'', ''Man From the Dying Planet'', ''Shooting Script'', and ''The Good Shepherd''. His television credits include ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Jon Bokenkamp and developed by John Eisendrath. It stars James Spader as Raymond Reddington, an international criminal and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and ''

Live from Lincoln Center ''Live from Lincoln Center'' was a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS starting 1976. The program aired between six and nine times per season. Episodes of '' ...

'' on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. Leisy currently resides in New York City.

Awards and nominations

Leisy was nominated for the

Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theater The Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre is an annual, nationally-recognized award program that is sponsored by Theatre Philadelphia for professional theater productions in the Greater Philadelphia area. Each season culminates with an awards ...

for ''

'' at the Arden Theatre. Leisy received an honorable mention for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role in ''Ghostlight'' at the

New York Musical Theatre Festival The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual event held each summer from 2004 to 2019 in New York City's midtown theater district. It mounted more than 30 new musicals each year, more than half selected through an open-submission, double- ...

. Leisy received a Great Performance of 2011 honor for his portrayal of Matt in ''

''.

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leisy, Matt British male actors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Male actors from Boston Pembroke Hill School alumni