Christopher Fitzgerald

Stage actor Christopher Fitzgerald earned several Tony nominations, among other award laurels, for playing impish comic characters in Broadway productions of "Young Frankenstein," "Finian's Rainbow" and "Waitress." Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Fitzgerald was raised in South Portland, Maine, where he began acting in local theater productions and vaudeville-styled revues. He earned his degree in theater from Rollins College before gaining a master's degree from the American Conservatory in San Francisco and making his professional acting debut in a 1998 Off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally's polarizing drama "Corpus Christi." Two years later, Fitzgerald received his first Drama Desk Award nomination in a revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Saturday Night," and made his screen debut in the 2000 feature film "Boiler Room." His Broadway debut came in 2002 with the musical "Amour," which brought a second Drama Desk Award nomination; the following year, he played the Munchkin Boq, who became the Tin Woodman, in the original Broadway run of "Wicked." Fitzgerald left the role in 2005 for a supporting turn on the WB sitcom "Twins" (2005-06), but soon returned to Broadway as the wisecracking, hunchbacked Igor in Mel Brooks' musical version of "Young Frankenstein" (2007). Fitzgerald earned his first Tony nomination for the role, which was soon followed by a second nod for playing the leprechaun Og in a 2010 revival of "Finian's Rainbow." The following year, Fitzgerald had moved up to starring roles, playing Pseudolus in an all-male version of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2010 and P.T. Barnum in a 2013 revival of "Barnum" in England. That same year, he starred as Amos Fox in the long-running Broadway production of "Chicago": turns in "June Moon" in Williamstown and "An Act of God" on Broadway in 2014 and 2015, respectively, preceded his third Tony nomination as the eccentric Ogie in "Waitress" in 2016.