Stephen Wallem is an American stage and television actor. He is best known for his one man musical review, “Off the Wallem”, as well as numerous theater productions. Stephen is also a playwright, composer, and director (see link to website below). He currently stars as “Thor” in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...

.

Life and career

Wallem was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois

Rockford, Illinois

Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...

, and worked as a stage actor and After Dark Award-winning cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

 singer in Chicago before moving to New York to make his television debut on Nurse Jackie. National tours include Forever Plaid

Forever Plaid

Forever Plaid is an off-Broadway musical revue written by Stuart Ross in New York in 1990 and now performed internationally. The show is a revue of the close-harmony "guy groups" that reached the height of their popularity during the 1950s. Personifying the clean-cut genre are the Plaids...

, Into the Woods

Into the Woods

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...

 and Scrooge with Richard Chamberlain

Richard Chamberlain

George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...

. He accrued nearly 2,500 performances as both 'Jinx' and 'Sparky' in various companies of Forever Plaid, including Chicago, Las Vegas, Denver and the first national tour. Wallem portrayed 'Judas'/'Padre' in the Court Theatre's

Court Theatre (Chicago)

The Court Theatre is a professional theatre located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The Court Theatre is affiliated with the University of Chicago, receiving in-kind support from the University and operating within the larger University umbrella...

 acclaimed production of Man Of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...

 (After Dark Award for 'Outstanding Performance', Joseph Jefferson Award

Joseph Jefferson Awards

The Joseph Jefferson Awards are given annually by a volunteer non-profit committee to acknowledge excellence in theatre in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are given in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson...

 for 'Best Ensemble') and reprised his performance at the Long Wharf Theatre

Long Wharf Theatre

Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared....

 in New Haven. For the Ravinia Festival, he appeared with Tony-winners Patti LuPone

Patti LuPone

Patti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...

, Audra McDonald

Audra McDonald

Audra Ann McDonald is an American actress and singer. She currently stars in the ABC television drama Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett. She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, such as Ragtime and A Raisin in the Sun...

, Michael Cerveris

Michael Cerveris

Michael Cerveris is an American singer, guitarist and actor. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including in several Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Road Show, and Passion...

 and George Hearn

George Hearn

George Hearn is an American actor and singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Early years:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hearn studied philosophy at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College before he embarked on a career in the theater, training for the stage with actress turned acting...

 in A Little Night Music

A Little Night Music

A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...

, Passion

Passion (musical)

Passion is a musical adapted from Ettore Scola's film Passione d'Amore . The book is by James Lapine, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Central subjects include obsession, beauty, power, manipulation, passion, illness, and love...

, Sunday In The Park With George

Sunday in the Park with George

Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...

 and Doll with David Hyde Pierce

David Hyde Pierce

David Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...

 (all directed by Lonny Price

Lonny Price

Lonny Price is an American actor, writer, and director, primarily in theatre. He is known for making statements on current events in versions of his musicals. His acclaimed May 2008 New York Philharmonic production of Camelot was making a statement about the current war including having different...

). Wallem also originated the role of 'Arvid' in the broadway workshop of Kristina från Duvemåla

Kristina från Duvemåla

Kristina från Duvemåla is a Swedish musical written by former ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson , based on a series of four novels by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg detailing a family's poverty-driven migration from Sweden to America in the mid-19th century: The Emigrants, Unto a Good...

, written by Benny Andersson

Benny Andersson

Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...

 and Björn Ulvaeus

Björn Ulvaeus

Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...

 of ABBA

ABBA

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

.
After wrapping up season 3 of Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...

, Mr. Wallem teamed up with costar Edie Falco

Edie Falco

Edith "Edie" Falco is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her roles in Oz as Diane Wittlesey, as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, and as the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie...

 for a cabaret show entitled “The Other Steve and Edie

The Other Steve and Edie

The Other Steve and Edie is a cabaret act conceived by Stephen Wallem and Edie Falco, with musical direction by three-time After Dark Award winner, Beckie Menzie and direction by Tony Humrichouser. Throughout the show, the duo performed songs ranging from contemporary pop and jazz standards to...

.” The production, conceived by Mr. Wallem and Ms. Falco with musical direction by three-time After Dark Award winner Beckie Menzie and direction by Tony Humrichouser

Tony Humrichouser

Anthony Alexander Humrichouser is an American actor/director. He is the son of Teresa Zammit and Ted Wesley Humrichouser. Humrichouser spent his first years in Charleston, South Carolina and later in Key West, Florida. After his father retired from the United States Navy, his family settled in...

, ran for a 3 night limited engagement at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. The show received numerous critical accolades, with one reviewer stating “There was a well thought out balance between serious ballads and more humorous pieces, the obvious forte of Wallem, who delighted the crowd with two parodies, one a spoof of “wordy lyrics,” another a takeoff on Wicked

Wicked

Wicked is generally used as an adjective to mean evil or sinful.Wicked may also refer to:* Wicked Pictures, an American pornographic studio...

’s “Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity may refer to:In film and television:* Defying Gravity , a 2009 drama television series* Defying Gravity * Defying Gravity , a 1997 independent gay-themed romantic dramaIn music...

,” changed to “Defying Parody”.