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Mike Faist
Michael David Faist (/faɪst/; born January 5, 1992) is an American actor. He is the recipient of a Grammy and a Daytime Emmy Award, with nominations for a Tony and a British Academy Film Award.
An alumnus of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Faist began his acting career in 2011 in Disney's Newsies, appearing in its Broadway production (2012–2013). He continued to appear in several independent films, television series and starring in Off-Broadway productions before his breakthrough role in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015–2018), for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
In 2021, Faist starred in the series Panic and had his first major film part as Riff, the leader of the Jets, in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, for which he received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He has since played Jack Twist in a West End theatre production of Brokeback Mountain (2023) and starred in the romantic sports film Challengers (2024).
Michael David Faist was born on January 5, 1992, in Gahanna, Ohio, and was adopted by his parents, Julia and Kurt Faist. The family owns a real estate business. As a child, Faist realized he wanted to pursue a career in the performing arts. He was enticed by dancing after seeing Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in old MGM films, especially Kelly in Singin' in the Rain. "Just the way he performed and moved, he was able to tell a story through movement," Faist said. At the age of 5, he pressured his parents to enroll him in dance classes and began auditioning for community theater and children's theater. In a Columbus Children's Theatre production of The Wizard of Oz, he played one of the Lollipop Guild, later joining the cast of Oliver! and Alice in Wonderland.
Faist fell in love with acting while attending The Academy of Performing Arts (TAPA) company in Columbus, Ohio, and while at Gahanna Lincoln High School he acted in several productions, such as Danny Zuko in Grease and Simon in Jesus Christ Superstar. At the age of 17, Faist met his birth mother and her family, who are mostly pilots by profession. The eldest of his two half-brothers taught him how to fly. Faist has since then obtained his pilot's license.
In 2009, he graduated from high school a year early and moved to New York to pursue a stage career. He enrolled in the American Musical and Dramatic Academy but dropped out after two semesters. While auditioning for Off-Broadway plays, he began selling tickets in Times Square. On his first job as a professional actor in the play White Christmas, he was collecting food stamps, earning $150 per week, and living in the back of a McDonald's parking lot.
Faist began his acting career in 2011, originating the role of Morris Delancey, a bully and publisher Joseph Pulitzer's henchman, in the regional premiere of Newsies at the Paper Mill Playhouse. When the musical transferred to Broadway, he understudied the lead role of Jack Kelly, a newsboy who leads his colleagues in a strike against the publisher, in addition to his other roles. Faist had to alternately play the roles in quick succession during the opening number. "You have to really make sure you're warmed up vocally and physically and you're mentally prepared," Faist said of the demands of his dual role, but added, "It's not hard to have fun in Newsies, about the uprising of children, a new generation coming in to take over the old." Newsies opened to critical acclaim and was nominated for Best Musical at the 66th Tony Awards. In 2012, he made his feature film debut in the coming-of-age drama The Unspeakable Act. The independent film received positive reviews.
Faist went on to star as Rhys Thurston in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's play Appropriate Off-Broadway in 2014, which drew critical acclaim from chief theater critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times. In 2015, he appeared as Skip in the short film Yellow, a psychiatric ward patient in Touched with Fire, and Gordie Joiner in The Grief of Others which received critical and generally positive reviews. He was also cast in an unaired pilot of the series Eye Candy as Olsen and co-starred as tutor Aleksei Belyaev opposite Peter Dinklage in an Off-Broadway production of A Month in the Country.
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Mike Faist
Michael David Faist (/faɪst/; born January 5, 1992) is an American actor. He is the recipient of a Grammy and a Daytime Emmy Award, with nominations for a Tony and a British Academy Film Award.
An alumnus of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Faist began his acting career in 2011 in Disney's Newsies, appearing in its Broadway production (2012–2013). He continued to appear in several independent films, television series and starring in Off-Broadway productions before his breakthrough role in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015–2018), for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
In 2021, Faist starred in the series Panic and had his first major film part as Riff, the leader of the Jets, in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, for which he received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He has since played Jack Twist in a West End theatre production of Brokeback Mountain (2023) and starred in the romantic sports film Challengers (2024).
Michael David Faist was born on January 5, 1992, in Gahanna, Ohio, and was adopted by his parents, Julia and Kurt Faist. The family owns a real estate business. As a child, Faist realized he wanted to pursue a career in the performing arts. He was enticed by dancing after seeing Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in old MGM films, especially Kelly in Singin' in the Rain. "Just the way he performed and moved, he was able to tell a story through movement," Faist said. At the age of 5, he pressured his parents to enroll him in dance classes and began auditioning for community theater and children's theater. In a Columbus Children's Theatre production of The Wizard of Oz, he played one of the Lollipop Guild, later joining the cast of Oliver! and Alice in Wonderland.
Faist fell in love with acting while attending The Academy of Performing Arts (TAPA) company in Columbus, Ohio, and while at Gahanna Lincoln High School he acted in several productions, such as Danny Zuko in Grease and Simon in Jesus Christ Superstar. At the age of 17, Faist met his birth mother and her family, who are mostly pilots by profession. The eldest of his two half-brothers taught him how to fly. Faist has since then obtained his pilot's license.
In 2009, he graduated from high school a year early and moved to New York to pursue a stage career. He enrolled in the American Musical and Dramatic Academy but dropped out after two semesters. While auditioning for Off-Broadway plays, he began selling tickets in Times Square. On his first job as a professional actor in the play White Christmas, he was collecting food stamps, earning $150 per week, and living in the back of a McDonald's parking lot.
Faist began his acting career in 2011, originating the role of Morris Delancey, a bully and publisher Joseph Pulitzer's henchman, in the regional premiere of Newsies at the Paper Mill Playhouse. When the musical transferred to Broadway, he understudied the lead role of Jack Kelly, a newsboy who leads his colleagues in a strike against the publisher, in addition to his other roles. Faist had to alternately play the roles in quick succession during the opening number. "You have to really make sure you're warmed up vocally and physically and you're mentally prepared," Faist said of the demands of his dual role, but added, "It's not hard to have fun in Newsies, about the uprising of children, a new generation coming in to take over the old." Newsies opened to critical acclaim and was nominated for Best Musical at the 66th Tony Awards. In 2012, he made his feature film debut in the coming-of-age drama The Unspeakable Act. The independent film received positive reviews.
Faist went on to star as Rhys Thurston in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's play Appropriate Off-Broadway in 2014, which drew critical acclaim from chief theater critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times. In 2015, he appeared as Skip in the short film Yellow, a psychiatric ward patient in Touched with Fire, and Gordie Joiner in The Grief of Others which received critical and generally positive reviews. He was also cast in an unaired pilot of the series Eye Candy as Olsen and co-starred as tutor Aleksei Belyaev opposite Peter Dinklage in an Off-Broadway production of A Month in the Country.