American actor Jonathan Groff was BOTD in 1985. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he became interested in theatre from an early age, and was performing professionally in musicals by his teens. He turned down college to move to New York to pursue acting, making his Broadway debut in the 2005 musical My Life. The following year, he starred in the original production of teen rock musical Spring Awakening. A critical and commercial success, it won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, with Groff receiving his first acting nomination. Post-Awakening, he made a somewhat alarming shift into television, appearing in soap opera One Life to Live, and appeared in the 2009 film Taking Woodstock, before returning to theatre to play a gay soldier in the Off-Broadway play Prayer for My Enemy. He became a household name with a recurring role in Ryan Murphy‘s high-school TV series Glee, and struck gold in 2013 as a voice actor in the monstrously successful animated musical film Frozen. In 2014, he starred in the cable TV series Looking, a portrait of contemporary gay life in San Francisco scripted by Andrew Haigh, and appeared in Murphy’s TV film of Larry Kramer‘s play The Normal Heart. He returned to Broadway to play King George III in Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s phenomenally successful musical about the founding fathers of American independence, earning him his second Tony nomination. In 2019, he starred in the Off-Broadway musical revival of Little Shop of Horrors, and reprised his role in the sequel film Frozen II. He finally won a Tony Award for his starring role in a long-gestating Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim‘s musical Merrily We Roll Along. Groff came out as gay in 2009, voicing concerns about the negative impact this could have on his career, but acknowledging the importance of role-modelling for LGBTQ youth. He has been in relationships with actors Gavin Creel and Zachary Quinto and the choreographer Corey Baker.