Alex Brightman, currently playing the lead role in the Broadway adaptation of the movie School of Rock, was nominated for a Tony Award this week.
Brightman is up for “Best Actor in a Musical,” pitting him against Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton: An American Musical, among others. The nominations were announced Tuesday morning.
Born in Saratoga, Brightman says he began acting when he was a child with the Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose and later, TheatreWorks in Silicon Valley. After graduating from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose in 2005, Brightman headed to New York City for college. After two years, he began booking roles in Los Angeles and New York, including a two-year stint as Boq in the Broadway production of Wicked.
In School of Rock, Brightman plays Dewey Finn, the struggling rocker-turned-teacher character played by Jack Black in the hit, 2003 film upon which the musical is based. It’s the actor’s first starring role in a Broadway production, which opened last November.
