Andrew Rannells

The Voice That Arrived Before the Face

Andrew Rannells didn't need to finish his studies at Marymount Manhattan College to understand how the industry worked. In 1997, he left class to make his own way in a New York that still didn't know what to do with someone of his type. It was a risky decision that forced him into a string of auditions while his savings from Omaha slowly ran out.

Hunger sharpens the wit.

For years, his voice was better known than his face. He voiced characters in Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! while waiting for a real break on stage. That behind-the-scenes work in anime dubbing helped him pay the rent on tiny apartments. He wasn't chasing instant stardom, but simply surviving in a city that chews up anyone without a Plan B.

In 2005, he landed a spot in the national tour of Hairspray and soon jumped to Broadway with Jersey Boys. But his real breakout came in 2011. That year he slipped into the white shirt of Elder Price in The Book of Mormon. New York critics were won over by his ability to carry the weight of a religious satire as wild as it was successful. He earned his first Tony nomination, and his phone started ringing with Los Angeles area codes.

Making the leap to HBO

Lena Dunham cast him in Girls in 2012. What began as a supporting role as a gay ex-boyfriend became one of the series' key pieces. His character, Elijah Krantz, brought a necessary sharpness that balanced out the self-absorption of the rest of the cast. And it worked because Rannells avoided the cliché of the funny best friend, giving the role a very human bitterness.

In 2012, he also starred in The New Normal on NBC. The series followed a gay couple who wanted to have a child through surrogacy. Despite the visibility it gave the LGBTQ+ community on mainstream American television, the network canceled it after a single season. Viewership didn't keep up with Ryan Murphy's creative risk at the time.

But the actor did not stop. In 2015 he appeared in the film The Intern alongside Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. Commercial film work helped fund his constant returns to the stage. For Rannells, the stage has always been the place to take back control of his own story.

The industry is fickle.

Production and narrative maturity

In 2019, he published his memoir, titled Too Much Is Not Enough. In the book, he dissects his early years in New York with a candor that steers clear of the usual star hagiography. There's no cheap epic in its pages. Just a dry account of the loneliness of an actor just starting out and the weight of family expectations in Nebraska.

In 2020, he took part in the film adaptation of The Boys in the Band for Netflix. The project reunited the same cast that had triumphed on Broadway two years earlier. Ryan Murphy was shot on a tight budget and an intense shooting schedule that demanded theatrical precision in front of the cameras. Rannells proved he could carry dramatic close-ups without losing the energy of live performance.

His return to the stage in 2023 with Gutenberg! The Musical! reunited him with Josh Gad. The show ran at the James Earl Jones Theatre until early 2024. It was a box office hit that appealed to nostalgia among fans of his Mystic-era work. The chemistry between the two actors sustained a production that depended entirely on their physical and vocal stamina.

In September 2024, he joined the cast of the new Broadway production of Our Town. He shares the stage with Jim Parsons and Katie Holmes in a production directed by Kenny Leon. The show was scheduled for a limited run of 28 weeks at the Barrymore Theatre, with an average ticket price of 165 dollars.