Brett Ryback

Brett Ryback is an actor, composer/lyricist, and writer.

As an actor, he originated the role of Marcus Off-Broadway in Murder for Two at Second Stage and New World Stages. TV/Film appearances include: Mom, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, House, All In with Cam Newton, Hail, Caesar!, and the Lifetime movie The Assistant.

He has worked extensively with various regional theatres, national tours, and has originated roles in many new plays and musicals.


He co-created the musical podcast In Strange Woods, which hit #1 on iTunes fiction chart and was an iHeart Radio Award nominee for “Best Fiction Podcast.” It is currently being developed as a television series.

Brett is the recipient of the 2016 ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award. He won the 2007 Tennessee Williams One-Act Competition for his play Weïrd. His play A Roz By Any Other Name was the winner of the 2007 Henrico County Theatre One-Act Competition. Both are published in The Best American Short Plays 2007-2008. His play Free Speech Zone was a semi-finalist at the 2020 Austin Film Festival. He is a multi-year participant at the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals where his show Passing Through premiered in 2019.

Other works include: Arthur & Friends Make a Musical; Nate the Great (licensed by TRW); Joe Schmoe Saves the World (2016 NAMT Festival of New Musicals, ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, OSF Black Swan Lab); and Little Piglet Gets a Sister (licensed by PNA). He conceived the musical Darling (Featured on NBC’s “The Apprentice”, winner of the Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, and Selection for 2009 PACE New Musicals).

Brett has scored multiple short films including Mikey’s Army (Official Selection: Outfest Fusion; Pride Fest, Chicago) featuring the original songs “Falling” and “Sweet as I Dreamed” which are available on Spotify.

For 20 years he was a regular composer for Milwaukee’s Skylight Music Theatre’s Education program, Kidswrites, which pairs the uncorrected writing of inner-city grade school students with professional actors and composers.

He also served for five years as the composer/lyricist for Next Act Theatre’s Next Actors Summer Theatre for Youth, during which time he composed music and lyrics for five original musical theatre pieces in collaboration with Milwaukee’s youth.

He earned a B.A. in Music Composition from UCLA, and teaches Musical Theatre at the University of Southern California.