Anthony Rapp

Anthony Deane Rapp (b. October 26 1971, Chicago) is an American stage and film actor best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in the Broadway production of Rent in 1996 and later for reprising the same role in the film version. He also performed the role of Charlie Brown in the 1999 Broadway revival of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Biography
Rapp was born in Chicago, where he attended high school at Joliet West High School in Joliet and theatre camp at the prestigious Michigan Interlochen Arts Academy. Rapp's brother is playwright, novelist, and filmmaker Adam Rapp. Rapp also has a sister, Anne, as well as a "little sister", Rachel, although she is actually a cousin of his who was taken in by his mother.

Career
He first performed on Broadway in 1981, at the age of ten, in The Little Prince and the Aviator, a musical based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novel The Little Prince that closed during previews. He also appeared as a teenager in the 1987 movie Adventures in Babysitting, which was directed by Chris Columbus. Columbus would later direct Rapp in the film version of Rent.

Rapp has gone on to appear in several movies and Broadway shows. His notable work includes films Dazed and Confused where he played one third of a teenaged intellectual triumvirate, A Beautiful Mind as one of John Nash's colleagues, Road Trip as the villainous Greek philosophy TA, Jacob, the stage and film versions of Six Degrees of Separation, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Also in this production was Kristin Chenoweth as Sally Brown.

Rapp is probably best known for playing Mark Cohen in the Off-Broadway and original Broadway casts of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent. He reprised that role in the film version of Rent, which was released on November 23 2005. Fans of Rent closely associate Rapp with that show, in part because his character is semi-autobiographical of the deceased composer and playwright Jonathan Larson. Rapp has embraced his role as an unofficial spokesperson for the musical and has given numerous television and print interviews regarding the show and its development. Some of Rapp's photographs from rehearsals of Rent have been published.

In 2000, Rapp released a solo CD, entitled Look Around. He is represented as a keynote speaker by Greater Talent Network speakers bureau.

Personal life
Rapp identifies himself as bisexual, although he prefers emotional relationships with men. He's an advocate in show business for LGBT rights. As of 2005, Rapp's boyfriend is actor Rodney To. And the couple is trying to adopt a child. They have three cats named Emma, Sebastian, and Spike.

In 2006, Rapp released a memoir about his days in Rent, as well as his mother's struggle with cancer and his own struggle with finding himself, entitled Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, which was released February 7, 2006 by publisher Simon & Schuster. The book was re-released in paperback on October 31 2006.

Rapp also heads a band called Albinokid.

He still remains close friends with some of his Rent castmates, such as Daphne Rubin-Vega, Adam Pascal, and Idina Menzel.

Filmography

 * Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
 * Grave Secrets (1989)
 * Far From Home (1989)
 * School Ties (1992)
 * Dazed and Confused (1993)
 * Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
 * The Mantis Murder (1996)
 * Twister (1996)
 * David Searching (1997)
 * Man of the Century (1999)
 * Road Trip (2000)
 * Cruise Control (2001)
 * A Beautiful Mind (2001)
 * Paradisco (2002)
 * Open House (2004)
 * Winter Passing (2005)
 * RENT (2005)
 * Danny Roane: First Time Director (2006)
 * Scaring the Fish (2006)
 * Let Them Chirp Awhile (2007)

Television

 * Sky High (1990)
 * Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker (1994)
 * The Lazarus Man (1996)
 * The X-Files (1997)
 * The Beach Boys - An American Family (2000)
 * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2004)
 * Kidnapped (2006)

Theater

 * The Little Prince and the Aviator
 * Precious Sons
 * Six Degrees of Separation (1990)
 * RENT New York Theater Workshop (1994)
 * RENT (1996)
 * You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999)
 * Henry V (2002)
 * Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2003)
 * Little Shop of Horrors (2004)
 * Feeling Electric (2005)

Discography

 * Look Around (2000)

Author/Books

 * Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent (2006)