Norbert Leo Butz
Butz in 2012
Born	(1967-01-30)January 30, 1967 (age 58) St. Louis,Missouri, U.S.
Education	Webster University(BFA) University of Alabama(MFA)
Occupations	Actor singer
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Michelle Federer ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	3

Norbert Leo Butz (born January 30, 1967) is an American actor and singer known for his work inBroadway theatre. He is a two-time recipient of theTony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performances inDirty Rotten Scoundrels andCatch Me If You Can, and is one of only nine actors ever to have won the award twice.

Norbert Leo Butz was born on January 30, 1967, inSt. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elaine (née Bourisaw) and Norbert Butz.^[1] He was raised in a middle-class family; his parents are devoutCatholics.^[2][3] He is the seventh of 11 children and is named after his father.^[4] Some of his first theatre roles included playing the male leads at local all-girl high schools, such asCor Jesu Academy andNerinx Hall. He graduated fromBishop DuBourg High School. Butz earned aBachelor of Fine Arts from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts atWebster University and aMaster of Fine Arts from TheUniversity of Alabama/Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Professional Actor Training Program.^[5] He would later receive an honorary degree from Webster University in 2013.^[6]

Butz made hisBroadway debut as a replacement swing – a type ofunderstudy – inRent in 1996. Butz ultimately replacedAdam Pascal as Roger Davis in 1997. Additional Broadway credits includeThou Shalt Not (Camille Raquin, 2001–2002), for which he received a nomination for theTony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical at the56th Tony Awards;Wicked (the originalFiyero, 2003); andDirty Rotten Scoundrels (Freddy Benson) for which he received theTony Award for Best Actor in a Musical at the59th Tony Awards, theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, aDrama League Distinguished Performance Award, and anOuter Critics Circle Award. HisOff-Broadway credits includeThe Last Five Years (Jamie Wellerstein),Saved (Fred), andJuno and the Paycock (Jerry Devine), and he has toured as the Emcee inCabaret and as Freddy inDirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Butz's film roles have includedWent to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five (Pawnbroker),Noon Blue Apples (Howard Philips), andWest of Here (Josiah Blackwell).

Butz's projects include the filmDan in Real Life (withSteve Carell,Juliette Binoche, andDane Cook), released in October 2007, the world premiere ofIs He Dead?, a hitherto unproducedMark Twain play that opened at Broadway'sLyceum Theatre on December 9, 2007, andFifty Words Off-Broadway withElizebeth Marvel at theLucille Lortel Theatre (2008).^[7] In January 2008, he appeared as Captain Richard King in the miniseries adaptation of theLonesome Dove prequel,Comanche Moon.

Starting December 23, 2008, Butz stepped in to replaceJeremy Piven inDavid Mamet'sSpeed-the-Plow; Piven suddenly and unexpectedly dropped out of the play after he experienced health problems. Butz took over the part until January 13, 2009, whenWilliam H. Macy assumed the role for the remainder of the play's run.^[8]

Butz taught atDrew University inMadison, New Jersey, for the spring semester in 2008 in the drama department.^[9][10]

He starred as Rowdy Kaiser in theABC showThe Deep End.

From April to May 9, 2010, he returned to the Broadway stage inENRON asJeffrey Skilling.^[11] DespiteTony nominations at the64th Tony Awards, the play struggled with ticket sales.

Butz starred in the 2011 drama indie filmHigher Ground withVera Farmiga, who also directed it.^[12]

Butz originated the role of Carl Hanratty in the musicalCatch Me If You Can which played pre-Broadway tryouts at the5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington, from July 28 through August 14, 2009.^[13] Butz played the role of Carl Hanratty in the Broadway production ofCatch Me if You Can, which opened on April 10, 2011,^[14] and closed in September 2011. For this role he won his second Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical^[15] and his second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical at the65th Tony Awards.^[16]

In April 2012, Butz appeared as himself in one episode of theNBC musical dramaSmash. Butz playedHal Wilner inGreetings from Tim Buckley, a film aboutTim Buckley andJeff Buckley, which premiered at the2012 Toronto International Film Festival.^[17][18]

From November 29, 2012 to January 6, 2013, Butz appeared on Broadway inTheresa Rebeck'sDead Accounts, oppositeKatie Holmes,Jayne Houdyshell,Josh Hamilton, andJudy Greer.

In 2013 he starred in the newAndrew Lippa musicalBig Fish, which premiered in Chicago in the spring and opened on Broadway in theNeil Simon Theatre in October, directed bySusan Stroman.^[19]

In 2012, he played Uncle Peck in a limited engagement revival ofPaula Vogel's playHow I Learned to Drive. He also starred in the 2013 filmBetter Living Through Chemistry. He played Kevin Rayburn in the 2015Netflix television showBloodline.

He also starred in the 2018 Broadway revival ofMy Fair Lady as Alfred Doolittle, the father of the leading role,Eliza Doolittle. He earned a nomination forTony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the production at the72nd Tony Awards.

From July 9–28, 2019, he appeared in an original musical collaboration titledTWOHANDER atFeinstein's/54 Below alongsideSherie Rene Scott, with musical director Todd Almond.^[20][21] Butz previously shared the stage with Scott in the original productions of the musicalsDirty Rotten Scoundrels andThe Last Five Years.

In 2021, Butz played the role of Craig Maddox in the NBC drama seriesDebris which is written byJ. H. Wyman.^[22]

In 2024, Butz played Kosta in the play,Vladimir, by Erika Sheffer at theNew York City Center Stage I which covers the story of a journalist and an accountant who bravely investigate and publicize issues in Russia.

Butz married his formerWicked co-starMichelle Federer in 2007. Their daughter was born on January 2, 2011.^[23] He has two older daughters from his marriage to Sydney Davis.^[24][25]

The murder of his sister, Teresa Butz, made national news when an assailant stabbed both her and her girlfriend in her Seattle home on July 19, 2009.^[26][27]

• Memory and Mayhem: Live at54 Below (2013)^[32]
• The Angel Band Project: An Evening With Norbert Leo Butz (2014)
• Girls Girls Girls: Live at 54 Below (2016)^[33]
• The Long Haul (2019)^[34]

• Norbert Leo Butz at theInternet Broadway Database
• Norbert Leo Butz at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• Norbert Leo Butz atIMDb
• TonyAwards.com Interview with Norbert Leo Butz
• Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing, January 2008

• 1967 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• American male film actors
• American male musical theatre actors
• American male television actors
• American male voice actors
• Drama Desk Award winners
• Male actors from St. Louis
• Tony Award winners
• Webster University alumni
• Dora Mavor Moore Award winners

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