Michael Park (actor)

Michael Frank Park (born July 20, 1968) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Larry Murphy in the original Broadway cast of Dear Evan Hansen, Tom Holloway in Stranger Things S3 and Jack Snyder on As the World Turns (1997– 2010). Park won back-to-back Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2010 and 2011.

Michael Park
Born
Michael Frank Park

(1968-07-20) July 20, 1968
Canandaigua, New York, U.S.
Alma materNazareth College
OccupationActor
Spouse(s)
Laurie Nowak
​
(m. 1996)​
Children3

On stage, he has originated roles in three Broadway musicals: Michael in Smokey Joe's Cafe (1995), Angus Tuck in Tuck Everlasting (2016), and Larry Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen (2016), as well as Monty in the Off-Broadway production of Violet (1997).

In 2018, for his work in Dear Evan Hansen, Park earned a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program.

In 2019, Park played snooty reporter, Tom Holloway, in the third season of Netflix’s critically acclaimed Stranger Things.

Career

Park attended Nazareth College, Rochester, New York, originally intending to become an architect, before deciding to become an actor.[1] He worked in the 1992 New Plays Festival at Geva Theatre in Rochester. He appeared in regional productions including Ellen Universe Joins The Band and Peephole.[2]

In 1994, Park appeared in the musical Hello Again at Lincoln Center Theater.[3] In August 1994, Park was in the Goodspeed Opera House production of Shenandoah,[4] and Good News at the North Shore Music Theatre (1994). After understudying Billy Bigelow in the 1994 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, he made his Broadway debut in 1995 in Smokey Joe's Cafe.[5] In 1997, Park played Monty in the Playwrights Horizons production of Violet.[6]

The day after Violet opened was Park's first day in the long-running daytime soap opera As the World Turns as Jack Snyder, joining in April 1997.[7] Park received three Emmy nominations and several other soap-opera acting awards, including winning the 2010 and 2011 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.[8]

During his 13-year tenure in As the World Turns, he continued to work in the theatre, playing Lucky Malone in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Little Me (1998).[9] He made two New York City Center Encores! appearances: Bloomer Girl in 2001 as Jeff Calhoun, and Applause in 2008 as Bill Sampson.[10]

With As the World Turns coming to an end in June 2010, Park returned to the stage, and played the role of Pete's ghost father who appeared to his son as three "Alamo" characters in the coming-of-age musical The Burnt Part Boys at Playwrights Horizon.[11] In the summer of 2010, he appeared as Lord Capulet in the musical The Last Goodbye at Williamstown Theatre Festival.[12] Park then appeared as the cop in Will Eno's play Middletown at the off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre (2010).[13]

Park performed in the role of Bert Bratt in the Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2011), starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette.[14]

In the 2012 independent financial thriller film Supercapitalist, Park appears as Morris Brown, co-starring along with Linus Roache, Kenneth Tsang, Derek Ting, Richard Ng, Kathy Uyen, and Darren E. Scott.

On December 5, 2013, he participated as a cast member of the NBC telecast production of The Sound of Music Live! starring Carrie Underwood. He played Cecco, one of Captain Hook's pirates, in the NBC presentation of Peter Pan Live! starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken; the musical was broadcast on December 4, 2014.[15]

In 2015, he created the role of Larry Murphy in the world premiere of the stage musical Dear Evan Hansen at Washington, DC's Arena Stage. The musical opened off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theater in the Spring of 2016, though he was not in the cast as he was appearing in the Broadway musical, Tuck Everlasting.[16] He returned to Dear Evan Hansen in the Fall of 2016 when the musical made its debut on Broadway. For his work in Dear Evan Hansen, Michael Park earned the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and his third Daytime Emmy Award, this one a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program for his and the rest of the cast's Today Show performance that was broadcast on April 25, 2017.[17][18]

Personal life

Park was born in Canandaigua, New York, but spent a year of his childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[19]

He has been married to music therapist Laurie Nowak since January 6, 1996. They have three children.[20]

See also

References
  1. "Michael Park Biography" tvguide.com, accessed June 26, 2011
  2. Biography Archived 2012-01-14 at the Wayback Machine michaelparkonline.net, accessed June 26, 2011
  3. Richards, David."Review of 'Helo Again'" Archived 2011-07-29 at the Wayback Machine New York Times (from michaelparkonline.net), January 31, 1994
  4. Richards, David.THEATER REVIEW; 'Shenandoah' in a 20th-Anniversary Go-Round" New York Times, August 18, 1994
  5. Brantley, Ben."Theater Review: 'Smokey Joe's Cafe'" New York Times, March 3, 1995
  6. Heineman, Eva."A CurtainUp Review:'Violet'" Archived 2008-01-05 at the Wayback Machine CurtainUp, accessed June 26, 2011
  7. "Michael Park" Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine soap-news.com, accessed June 26, 2011
  8. Gioia, Michael.How to Succeed's Michael Park Among Winners at 38th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards" Archived 2011-06-25 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, June 20, 2011
  9. McGrath, Sean et al."Roundabout's 'Little Me' Hopes For Big Laughs From Prince & Short; Opens Nov. 12" Archived 2012-10-21 at the Wayback Machine November 12, 1998
  10. Fox, Jena Tesse."Applause and Encores for Michael Park" broadwayworld.com, February 7, 2008
  11. Jones, Kenneth."'Burnt Part Boys', a Musical Tale of West Virginia, Begins in NYC; Park, Brady, Calderon Star" Archived 2010-07-19 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, April 30, 2010
  12. Rizzo, Frank."Legit Reviews: 'The Last Goodbye'" Variety, August 15, 2010
  13. Probst, Andy."Review: 'Middletown'" theatermania.com, November 4, 2010
  14. Hetrick, Adam. "That Grin of Impetuous Youth": 'How to Succeed' Revival, With Daniel Radcliffe, Opens on Broadway" Archived 2011-06-01 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, March 27, 2011
  15. Hetrick, Adam. "Handful of Broadway Newsies Make Up Peter Pan's Lost Boys and Swashbuckling Pirates", Playbill, October 7, 2014
  16. Tuck Everlasting The Broadway League. 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2016
  17. McPhee, Ryan. "Dear Evan Hansen Wins 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album", Playbill, January 28, 2018
  18. McPhee, Ryan. "Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen Co-Stars Win Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award", Playbill, April 28, 2018
  19. MichaelParkNet (November 2, 2009). "KDKA: ATWT in Pittsburgh (Michael Park, Maura West, Paul Leyden)". KDKA – via YouTube.
  20. "About the Actors – Michael Park". soapcentral.com.
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