Tiler Kalyn Peck (born January 12, 1989) is an American
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
dancer who is a
principal dancer with the
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...
. As well as ballet, she has performed in musical theatre shows and has made
cameo appearance
A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
s in films including ''
Donnie Darko'' and television series including ''
Tiny Pretty Things''.
Early life
Born in
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region.
Bakersfield's population as of th ...
, Peck started her studies at her mother's ballet studio in Bakersfield, at the age of two.
She started her formal training in
classical ballet
Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as en pointe, pointe work, turnout (ballet), turnout of the legs, ...
at the age of seven when she received private lessons in
Hollywood from Alla Khaniashvili, a former dancer with the
Bolshoi Ballet
The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest Ballet company, ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it ca ...
.
Later, she began to study with New York City Ballet dancers Colleen and
Patricia Neary in California. During this time she enrolled at the Westside School of Ballet in
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
where she studied with the former New York City Ballet principal
Yvonne Mousey and learned the
Balanchine technique.
Ballet career
While performing on
Broadway in
Susan Stroman
Susan P. Stroman (born October 17, 1954) is an American theatre director, choreographer, and performer. Her notable theater productions include ''Oklahoma!'', ''The Music Man'', ''Crazy for You (musical), Crazy for You'', ''Contact (musical), Co ...
's revival of the
Meredith Willson musical ''
The Music Man'', Peck entered the
School of American Ballet for the winter term of 2000–2001. The following year she enrolled as a full-time student starting with the summer session of 2002.
In September 2004, she joined New York City Ballet as an apprentice. She was promoted to the corps de ballet in February 2005, to soloist in December 2006, and to principal dancer in October 2009.
Peck danced at the Kennedy Honors ceremony twice, in 2012 and 2014, performing in front of
President Barack Obama and First Lady
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...
.
In 2014, she started "Tiler Peck Designs", her own dance wear collection carried by Body Wrappers.
That same year, she performed at the Laguna Dance Festival, with her colleague
JoaquÃn De Luz. In October of the same year, Peck reunited with Susan Stroman in Washington DC to work with her on her new musical, ''
Little Dancer.''
Peck's repertoire at NYCB includes choreography by
George Balanchine,
Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman,
Christopher Wheeldon,
Peter Martins and
Justin Peck. She has performed leading roles in ''
Jewels,
The Nutcracker
''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...
,
Raymonda Variations,
La Sylphide,
Romeo and Juliet
''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...
,
Coppélia,
The Sleeping Beauty,'' and ''
Swan Lake''.
Other appearances
Peck has explored other activities besides ballet, such as
musical theater
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, moveme ...
and acting. In 2019, she returned to her role in the musical ''Little Dancer'' which had been reworked and re-titled to ''Marie, Dancing Still''. She has also performed as Clara in the
Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
She has had small parts in movies. Her appearances include ''A Time for Dancing'' (2000), ''Geppetto'' (2000), ''
Donnie Darko'' (2001), ''Catfish'' (2010), ''Enemy Within'' (2014) and the documentary about choreographer
Justin Peck's choreographic process, ''Ballet 422'' (2014). She has appeared on TV performing as a guest on ''
Dancing with the Stars''. In 2011 she performed as Marzipan in
Live from Lincoln Center’s transmission of "
The Nutcracker
''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...
". In 2013, she appeared again at Lincoln Center as Louise Bigelow in the PBS telecast of
Rodgers & Hammerstein´s ''
Carousel''.
In 2017 Peck appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" as the first ballerina to ever perform on the show.
Peck was the main focus of the 2018 documentary movie ''
Ballet Now'' which was shown at the 2018
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...
.
In 2020, Peck appeared in the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series ''
Tiny Pretty Things'' as Sienna Milken. She stars as Eva Cullman, a ballerina in a fictional New York City ballet company, in ''
Étoile'', a 2025 television series created by
Amy Sherman-Palladino and
Daniel Palladino.
Personal life
Peck married New York City principal ballet dancer
Robbie Fairchild, on June 22, 2014, in New York. The couple separated in 2017. For the duration of her marriage, Peck was sister-in-law to
Megan Fairchild, Robert's sister. Robbie Fairchild would later come out as gay.
In September 2024, she announced engagement to ballet dancer
Roman Mejia.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Tiler
1989 births
Living people
21st-century American ballet dancers
American ballerinas
Dancers from California
Janice Levin Award dancers
New York City Ballet principal dancers
People from Bakersfield, California
Mae L. Wien Award recipients
Princess Grace Awards winners
School of American Ballet alumni
21st-century American women