Anthony Rapp is an American actor and singer who has been in the industry long enough to be known by everyone who loves movies. The actor’s long career has spanned from Broadway to film to television. Rapp started his career on Broadway in 1981 in the short-lived musical The Little Prince and the Flyer. He didn’t end his career by canceling the musical after sixteen previews, but he looked for other opportunities and soon began switching between theater roles and roles in film and television.
He then became famous in 1996 for the role of Mark Cohen in the Broadway production Rent. The actor also resumed his role in the film adaptation of the musicals and soon got several other opportunities to play the lead role in other musicals, such as You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, where he played Charlie Brown, and as Lucas in If/Then. He is also known for his role as Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets in the television series Star Trek: Discovery.
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Who is Anthony Rapp?
American actor Anthony Deane Rapp was born on October 26, 1971, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Mary Lee and Douglas Rapp. His parents separated in 1974 when Rapp was barely three years old, so he was raised by his mother – a trained nurse – in Joliet, Illinois.
Rapp is not his parents’ only child, he has two older siblings (a brother and a sister). His older brother Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. He began to take an interest in acting like a child. As a child, Anthony Rapp took part in community theater productions, and during his time in junior high school, and he also won several awards for singing.
For his high school education, he attended Joliet West High School and then the drama camp at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. After high school, he moved to New York and enrolled at New York University as a film student, but dropped out after one semester.
Career
Rapp began his career on Broadway in 1981 as the Little Prince in the musical The Little Prince and the Flyer. He made his screen debut six years later when he appeared as a member of the main cast in Adventures in Babysitting – a 1987 film by Chris Columbus.
He then switched between theater roles and roles in film and television. Rapp had his big breakthrough in 1996 when he played the lead role in the Broadway production Rent as Mark Cohen – a character he would later take up again in the film adaptation of the musical. The production brought him further opportunities on Broadway, including his portrayal of Charlie Brown in You, ‘re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and as Lucas in If/Then.
In 2005 he played the Doctor in the world premiere of Feeling Electric, while in 2008 he worked as an assistant director to Michael Greif on Next to Normal’s Off-Broadway run and was also to write the introduction to the published script
He appeared in an episode of the television series Psych entitled Psych: The Musical, which premiered on USA Network in December 2013. He is also known for his role as Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets in the television series Star Trek: Discovery. His other films include A Beautiful Mind, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees of Separation (stage and film versions), School Ties, An American Family, Road Trip, Danny Roane: First Time Director.
Rapp is interested in other things than supporting roles. In 2000 he released a solo CD entitled Look Around. Six years later, he published his memoirs entitled Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, in which he spoke about his relationship with his mother. Later, he performed the memoirs in a one-man stage show and later performed them at various locations. A recording of the show was released on PS Classics in December 2012.
Is Anthony Rapp Gay and What is His Relationship With Kevin Spacey?
Not only is the actor the first openly gay character in the Star Trek franchise, but he also describes his sexual orientation as gay and not gay. Rapp first used the word in an interview with Oasis magazine in 1997 when he said he didn’t want to label himself and wouldn’t label himself except to simply say he was gay because he had been in loving relationships with both men and women.
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He said he did not believe he was primarily homosexual and also identified himself as bisexual. So let’s rather stick to how the actor classified his sexual identity – gay.
In October 2017, Anthony Rapp accused Kevin Spacey in an interview with BuzzFeed of having made an unwanted sexual advance in 1986 when he was just fourteen years old. According to the actor, Spacey, then twenty-six years old, had invited him to a party at his home, and at the end of the party, the obviously drunk Kevin physically carried him to bed and tried to initiate sex.
Rapp had previously mentioned the assault in an interview with The Advocate in 2001 but avoided naming the perpetrator. However, after Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual abuse, he decided to open up.
In Spacey’s response to Rapp’s accusation, he denied that he remembered the incident that took place more than three decades ago. He said he was horrified to hear about it and offered Rapp his “sincere apology. Sadly for Spacey, fourteen more people came forward after Rapp to accuse him of sexual misconduct. The accusations cost the actor his role in the House of Cards and other projects.