Joel Grey

In a career that was launched in the early 1950’s, Joel Grey has created indelible stage roles each decade since: as the iconic M.C. in Cabaret (1966, Tony Award), as song and dance man George M. Cohan in George M! (1967, Tony nomination), as Charley VII in Goodtime Charlie (1975, Tony nomination), as Jacobowsky in The Grand Tour (1979, Tony nomination), as Olim in New York City Opera’s Silverlake (1981), as Amos Hart in the landmark revival of Chicago (1996), and as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in Wicked (2004).

Joel’s non-musical stage roles include John Guare’s Marco Polo Sings a Solo (1975) at the Public Theatre; the title role in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of Chekhov’s Platonov (1978); Larry Kramer’s seminal The Normal Heart (1986) at the Public Theatre; the American Repertory Theatre’s production of Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken (1991) at the Sao Paulo Biennale, directed by Robert Wilson; Herringbone at the Hartford Stage (1992); John Patrick Shanley’s A Fool and Her Fortune (NY Stage and Film, 1992); and in the Roundabout Theatre production of Brian Friel’s Give Me Your Answer, Do! (1999), for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination. Grey’s film credits include Cabaret (Academy Award), Frank Perry’s Man on A Swing (1974), Robert Altman’s Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976); Herbert Ross’ The Seven Percent Solution (1976); Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985, Golden Globe Nomination); Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991); Altman’s The Player (1992); Phillip Haas’ The Music of Chance (1993); Michael Ritchie’s adaptation of The Fantasticks (2000); Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark (2000) with Bjork and Catherine Deneuve; and Clark Gregg’s Choke, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Joel’s recent television credits include “Alias,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” (Emmy Award-nomination), “Oz,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” "House," "Brothers & Sisters," "Private Practice," and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

In April 2010, The Paley Center for Media in New York presented “An Evening with Joel Grey,” celebrating Joel’s remarkable, multi-decade career in television. Joel is also an internationally exhibited, acclaimed photographer. He has had three photography books published: Pictures I Had to Take (2003), Looking Hard at Unexamined Things (2006), and 1.3: Images from My Phone (2009). Joel Grey is one of only eight actors to have won both the Tony and Academy award for the same role. In 1984, he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and has received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is also the recipient of the Distinguished Artist Award from the Los Angeles Music Center. In 1993, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis presented Joel with the Municipal Arts Society medal naming him a Living New York Landmark.

In October 2009, Grey performed at Carnegie Hall, alongside Lady Gaga, Bono, Rufus Wainwright and more to benefit (RED) and help stop AIDS in Africa.

Currently directing Fiddler on the Roof, Grey also, co-directed the Tony-winning Broadway premiere of The Normal Heart in 2011.

Joel is an internationally exhibited photographer with four published books: Pictures I Had to Take (2003), Looking Hard at Unexamined Things (2006), 1.3—Images From My Phone (2009) and The Billboard Papers (2013). His memoir, Master of Ceremonies, was released in 2016 (Flatiron Press).