J. Harrison Ghee to Be Awarded Key to the City in North Carolina Hometown

Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway star J. Harrison Ghee will be awarded a Key to the City in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. Ghee – a Fayetteville native and 2007 graduate of E.E. Smith High School – is known for their groundbreaking roles on Broadway and television.

Ghee will receive the award during the Fayetteville City Council meeting, which will be held at the City Hall Council Chambers at 433 Hay Street, first floor, in Fayetteville. It is free to attend and open to the public. Fayetteville is known as the city located near Fort Bragg – one of the largest military bases in the world, with more than 52,000 military personnel.  

“It’s an honor to be awarded Fayetteville’s Key to the City,” said Ghee, who will also be a special guest at central North Carolina’s High School Musical Theatre Awards – the DPAC Rising Star Awards – the same week. “This is the city that shaped me, challenged me and sent me on the journey to who I would become. For every hurdle I was able to overcome growing up, to be honored in this way is beyond what I could have ever dreamed.”

Born to a Southern Baptist pastor and an educator, Ghee was a trombone player in E.E. Smith’s acclaimed marching band, the Magnificent Marching Machine, after first learning to play the cello in elementary school and later bass. After attending The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, they later made history as the first nonbinary actor to win a Tony Award in a leading individual performance category for their role in Some Like It Hot. Along with the cast, they also won the Best Musical Theater Album at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

Other productions of Ghee’s include Kinky Boots, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Sting. Ghee has also been featured on television series such as FOX's Accused and Netflix’s Raising Dion. They have also been broadly featured in the media in the New York Times, Vogue, People, CBS Mornings, Associated Press and various others. In addition to many industry awards, Ghee has also been honored for contributions to the community, as they were a 2024 Visibility Award honoree for Human Rights Campaign (HRC) North Carolina. Earlier this year, Ghee announced they were diagnosed with kidney disease in 2022.

J. Harrison Ghee will be awarded in grateful recognition of their devoted commitment to the arts, human rights and the Fayetteville community. “We are pleased to present the Key to the City to native J. Harrison Ghee, who has been a bold advocate for the arts, human rights and the City of Fayetteville,” said Mayor Mitch Colvin. “We are excited to honor them and look forward to continuing to watch their journey in the arts and entertainment world, where they have represented the city so well.”

Ghee will join a long list of Fayetteville natives and friends of the community who’ve previously received the Key to the City, including NBA player Dennis Smith Jr., SBK Watches founder Kwame Molden, rapper J. Cole and even Ghee’s former band director, Roosevelt Pratt, Jr. who was honored last month.

 In addition to attending in person, the public can stream the Key to the City ceremony live on FayTV, the City of Fayetteville's Government Access Channel. The ceremony will also air locally on Spectrum Cable on Channel 7.

About J. Harrison Ghee

Tony Award and Grammy Award winner J. Harrison Ghee made history as the first nonbinary actor to win in a leading individual performance category for creating the role as “Daphne/Jerry” in Some Like It Hot, which also garnered them Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. Also on Broadway, Ghee starred as “Lola” in Kinky Boots, created the role of “Andre Mayhem” in Mrs. Doubtfire and co-starred opposite Harry Connick, Jr. as “Johnny Hooker” in The Sting. Ghee captured audiences as “The Lady Chablis” in the musical premiere of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. On television, Ghee was selected to play the title role in “Robyn’s Story” on the hit FOX anthology series Accused, starred as “Kwame” in Netflix’s Raising Dion and guest starred on HBO’s High Maintenance.

A Fayetteville, North Carolina native, Ghee moved to New York City to study at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and began their professional career working at Tokyo Disney, on cruise ships and national tours. They live by the mantra, “You have to free yourself to see yourself,” with the hope of inspiring people to dream big and to chase those dreams.

An outspoken advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, Ghee has been involved with many organizations, including Broadway Cares, GLAAD and God’s Love We Deliver, among others. Ghee hopes to create roles and conversations that reach beyond what was and into a realm of infinite possibilities.