Michael James Scott

Michael James Scott (born May 24, 1981) is an American actor and singer, known for his work on the Broadway stage. He is best known for playing the Genie in Disney's Aladdin musical in the Original Australian Cast, as well as in the West End, U.S. National Tour, and Broadway productions.

Early life

Scott was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Michael and Karen Scott. He attended Rock Springs Elementary school in Apopka, Florida, then Robinswood and Gotha Middle School. In high school, he attended the Dr. Phillips High School Visual and Performing Arts Program.

Michael worked as a child actor doing commercials, TV shows, and musicals; he also sang in concerts around the Central Florida area.

He trained with Ann Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project for four years, two as an assistant.

Career

As a young adult Michael got a string of TV work, theatre shows and singing engagements, before getting his BFA degree at The Conservatory of Theatre Arts program at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. While in college, he was the standby for Ben Vereen on the international tour of Fosse from 2003 to 2004. He joined the first National U.S. tour of Mamma Mia! from 2004 to 2005. In 2005, he made his Broadway debut in 2005 in the musical All Shook Up. He appeared off-Broadway opposite Donna McKechnie in Here's to the Public. In 2006, after a short stint in Disney's Tarzan on Broadway, he reprised his Mamma Mia! role of Eddie in the Broadway production. In 2007, he was in the original Broadway company for Boublil and Schönberg's new musical The Pirate Queen. In 2008, he was a part of the concert cast of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall and shortly afterwards went on to originate Barry Belson (actor)in the Las Vegas production of Jersey Boys. He returned to Broadway in 2009 in a revival of Hair, continuing on to the West End production the following year, for which he was also associate choreographer. At the end of that year, he returned to Broadway in the original cast of Elf, until it closed in 2011. He then played Dr. Gostwana in the original Broadway company of The Book of Mormon. During his time in Book of Mormon, he took a short break to play Donkey in Shrek The Musical at the MUNY of St. Louis before finally leaving Mormon in 2013. He joined the original Broadway company of Disney's Aladdin musical as the Genie standby. In 2015, he left to originate the Minstrel in Something Rotten! on Broadway.

He originated the role of Genie in the Australian production of Disney's musical Aladdin, which opened in Sydney in August 2016, before leaving the company in December 2017 to join the U.S. national tour of Aladdin. He received a Helpmann Award in 2017 for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his work in the Australian Production.

Scott is a member of the group The Broadway Boys and Grammy-nominated Broadway Inspirational Voices. He continues to sing at concerts, special events and benefits around the country.

Theatre credits

• Ragtime, North Carolina Theatre^[1]
• Cinderella, The Muny
• South Pacific, The Muny
• Fosse, standby for Ben Vereen, Tour, 2001–02
• Mamma Mia!, Eddie, Tour, 2003–04
• All Shook Up, Ensemble, Broadway, 2005
• Here's to the Public!, off-Broadway, 2005
• Tarzan, Swing, Broadway, 2006
• Aida, Mereb, The Muny, 2006
• Mamma Mia!, Eddie (replacement), Broadway, 2006–07
• The Pirate Queen, Ensemble, Broadway, 2007
• Jersey Boys, Ensemble/Barry Belson (u/s), Las Vegas, 2008
• Jerry Springer: The Opera, Carnegie Hall, 2008
• Hair, Swing/Margaret Mead (u/s)/Hud (u/s), Broadway, 2009
• Hair, associate choreographer/Hud (u/s)/Tribe Member, West End, 2010
• Elf, Ensemble/Macy's Manager (u/s), Broadway, 2010–11
• The Book of Mormon, Dr. Gostwana, Broadway, 2011–12
• Here's to Joe, off-Broadway, 2013
• Shrek The Musical, Donkey, regional, 2013
• Aladdin, Genie standby/Babkak standby, Broadway, 2014–15
• Something Rotten!, Minstrel, Broadway, 2015-16^[2]
• Aladdin, Genie, Australian Tour, 2016–2017
• Aladdin, Genie, North American Tour, Jan-Aug 2018, Jan-Feb 2020
• Aladdin, Genie, West End, Aug 2018-Feb 2019
• Aladdin, Genie, Broadway, Feb-Sept 2019, Feb 2020–present

Filmography

• South Park, special thanks, 1 episode, 2011
• The Carrie Diaries, Hot Gay Guy No. 1, 1 episode, 2013
• The Broadway.com Show, himself, 1 episode, 2013
• Submissions Only, William Fox, 1 episode, 2014
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Minstrel, 1 episode, 2015
• For Real, Michael, TV movie, post-production, 2016 (also producer)^[3]
• Black Monday Chad, 1 episode, 2019

Personal life

Scott is gay;^[4] he married filmmaker Jeremy Merrifield after dating for ten years and knowing each other for about twenty.^[5] They have a French Bulldog named Chloé Phylicia.^[6]

References