Rory O'Malley
Encyclopedia
Rory O'Malley is an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film, television, and musical theater actor, best known for his Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

-nominated performance as Elder McKinley in The Book of Mormon. He is a co-founder of the gay rights activism group Broadway Impact.

Film and television

O'Malley made a small cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 appearance in On the Run in 2004. His best known screen appearance was in the 2007 film adaptation of Dreamgirls
Dreamgirls (film)
Dreamgirls is a 2006 musical drama film, directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. The film debuted in three special road show engagements beginning December 15, 2006 before its nationwide release on December 25, 2006...

. O'Malley also performed the song "Cadillac Car" on the soundtrack, Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture.

Theatre

O'Malley starred as Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown
Charles "Charlie" Brown is the protagonist in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.Charlie Brown and his creator have a common connection in that they are both the sons of barbers, but whereas Schulz's work is described as the "most shining example of the American success story", Charlie...

 in the 2004 Falcon Theatre production of Snoopy! The Musical, which ran from June 24 to July 18, 2004, in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. He also starred as "Richie Cunningham" in the 2006 Los Angeles premiere of Happy Days
Happy Days (Musical)
Happy Days is a musical with a book by Garry Marshall and music and lyrics by Paul Williams, based on the ABC TV series of the same name. Given the show's 1959 setting, it would have taken place around Season 4 of the TV show...

, as well as the 2007 Goodspeed Opera House production.

In October 2008, he appeared alongside Colin Donnell and Laura Osnes
Laura Osnes
Laura Ann Osnes is an American stage actress, and the winner of the role of "Sandy" on the televised Grease: You're the One that I Want! competition. She played Sandy in the 2007 Broadway run of Grease, which opened August 19, 2007, starring alongside the other winner, Max Crumm, who played the...

 in the then Broadway-bound musical Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice (musical)
Pride and Prejudice is a musical by Bernard J. Taylor based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It was first produced as a concept studio recording in London, England, with singers including Peter Karrie, Claire Moore, Christopher Biggins, and others...

as Charles Bingley, at the Eastman Theatre
Eastman Theatre
The Eastman Theatre is the main building of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, located in downtown Rochester, New York....

 in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

.

O'Malley's first appearance on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 was in the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a one act musical comedy conceived by Rebecca Feldman with music and lyrics by William Finn, a book by Rachel Sheinkin and additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley...

, replacing actors in the roles of "Leaf Coneybear", "William Barfee", and "Douglas Panch". Regionally, he has appeared in Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical)
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a musical with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with the book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the Manuel Puig novel El Beso de la Mujer Araña...

as Valentin, a Marxist revolutionary. Other work includes Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....

as Charlie and Santa Claus Is Coming to Motown
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934....

as Kris Kringle
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...

. O'Malley's first appearance Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 was the 2009 revival of Newsical
Newsical
Newsical is a musical with music, lyrics and book written by Rick Crom. In ever-changing songs and sketches it lampoons current events, hot topics, celebrities, politicians and other well-known entities...

, directed by Mark Waldrop.

He appears as Elder McKinley in the musical The Book of Mormon, which opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 on March 24, 2011. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

reviewer wrote, "But allow me to single out my personal favorites. "Turn It Off" is a hilarious chorus-line piece about repression, performed by the (all-male Mormon) missionaries and destined to make a star of its lead singer and dancer, Rory O'Malley (whose character is repressed in his own special way)." For this role, O'Malley was nominated for the 2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...

, and was also nominated for a Tony Award.

On July 18, 2011, O'Malley participated in a reading of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

's play, Fanny's First Play
Fanny's First Play
Fanny's First Play is a 1911 play by G. Bernard Shaw. It was written anonymously, then later discovered to be the work of George Bernard Shaw and produced by the Shubert family. It opened at the Adelphi Theatre at Westminster in London on April 19, 1911 and ran for 622 performances , and second...

, a satire of theater critics, at the Players Club in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, New York City.

Charity work

O'Malley is an active supporter of gay rights, establishing the activism group Broadway Impact in 2009 with Gavin Creel and Jenny Kanelos. O'Malley said of the group in late 2010:"[S]ince its first year, Broadway Impact has held massive rallies for equality in New York City, made thousands of calls through phone banks and even organized 25 buses to Washington, DC so that 1,400 people could attend the National Equality March
National Equality March
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...

 for free. This year we were honored to receive the 2010 Human Rights Campaign Community Award and even participated in the ING New York City Marathon as a charity team. Our team of 12 runners, including myself, raised $38,440 for Broadway Impact!"

On August 15, 2010, O'Malley performed in the benefit concert Sing for the Cure, at Don't Tell Mama
Don't tell mama
Don't Tell Mama is a piano bar and cabaret located at 343 West 46th Street in New York City, USA, known in part for being featured on the TV show Friends....

 in New York City. He was also featured in a Broadway Impact fundraiser on November 2, 2010, hosted by Gavin Creel
Gavin Creel
Gavin James Creel is an American actor, singer and song writer.Born in Findlay, Ohio, Creel received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre at the University of Michigan in 1998. Creel, who is openly gay, is a regular on the LGBT RFamilyVacations cruise with Rosie O'Donnell...

. Another concert, also benefiting Broadway Impact, had been held prior to that, taking place on July 25, 2010.

He also participated in the Broadway Sings for Pride concert in June 2011. On July 9, 2011, O'Malley joined Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...

, Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...

 and others in the 2011 Broadway Barks
Broadway Barks
Broadway Barks is an annual animal charity event held in New York City to promote the adoption of shelter animals. The event has been held every July in Shubert Alley, starting in 1999.-History:...

 adopt-a-thon.

In 2011, O'Malley was named a Givenik
Givenik
- Givenik.com :Established in 2007 by Jordan Roth , Givenik is a unique service allowing theatergoers to buy theatre tickets and give 5% of their ticket price to the charity of their choice....

 Ambassador.

Discography

Album Label Release date
Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture
Music World/Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

December 6, 2007
Happy Days: Original Cast Recording
Happy Days (Musical)
Happy Days is a musical with a book by Garry Marshall and music and lyrics by Paul Williams, based on the ABC TV series of the same name. Given the show's 1959 setting, it would have taken place around Season 4 of the TV show...

PS Classics
PS Classics
PS Classics is a record label that specializes in musical theatre and standard vocals. Founded in 2000 by Grammy-nominated freelance producer Tommy Krasker and singer/actor Philip Chaffin, their releases have been critically acclaimed for their meticulous sonic detail and high-quality packaging and...

January 22, 2008
The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Ghostlight Records
May 17, 2011

Personal life

O'Malley is a graduate of Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. He then went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....

 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, for a BFA
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...

 in acting and musical theatre.

Openly gay, he came out at the age of 19. In an April 2011 interview with Brandon Voss
Brandon Voss
Brandon Voss is a journalist and entertainment writer living in New York, NY, United States. He is contributing editor of The Advocate, a national gay news magazine. He currently interviews mainstream celebrities for the monthly "A-List" column...

, O'Malley said, "Life comes before the business...Maybe some actors haven't gotten a role because they came out, but who gives a shit if you aren't happy? I do have it easier because I'm not a leading man, but I can't imagine having the energy to be in the closet. Besides, gay actors who start up gay organizations can't exactly get away with it." He currently resides in New York City with his boyfriend. O'Malley remains good friends with Book of Mormon co-star and former college roommate Josh Gad
Josh Gad
Joshua “Josh” Gad is an American film-, television-, and stage-actor best known for playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon and the role of Ryan Church in the television series Back to You. Gad has also appeared in episodes of ER, The Daily Show, Modern Family...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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