Andy Mientus
Mientus on theIt Gets Better Project Holiday Show in 2014
Born	Andrew Michael Mientus (1986-11-10)November 10, 1986 (age 38) Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	University of Michigan
Occupations	Actor singer
Years active	2008–present
Spouse	Michael Arden ​ (m. 2016)​

Andrew Michael Mientus (born November 10, 1986) is an American actor. He is best known for starring in theBroadway musicalsSpring Awakening,Les Misérables, andWicked, and on television in the NBC musical dramaSmash and asHartley Rathaway / Pied Piper in the CW seriesThe Flash.

Mientus was born inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, son of Jean Marie (née Gleeson) and Robert J. Mientus. He is of Polish, Italian, and Irish descent.^[1] Before starting his career in theatre, Mientus was a fan of the musicalSpring Awakening. After seeing the show at theAtlantic Theatre Company, he created a Facebook group for his friends and himself to discuss the show on. However, Mientus began to notice strangers (fellow fans) were joining the group, and soon one of the producers fromSpring Awakening contacted Mientus and asked him to make his group the official show Facebook page, which Mientus could moderate. He agreed, and was later recommended by the same producer to audition for the touring company ofSpring Awakening.^[2] He left theUniversity of Michigan after his junior year to be in the show, and never returned to graduate.^[3]

Mientus has toured with the first national touring company ofSpring Awakening as Hanschen and in the 2010/11 international tour ofAcademy^[4] and appeared in the 2012Off-Broadway revival ofCarrie: The Musical.^[5] He made his Broadway debut in the 2014 revival ofLes Misérables asMarius Pontmercy.^[6]

In February 2015, he was cast as journalist Brett Craig inParade, for a one-night-only concert presentation at the Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.^[7] After finishing his run ofLes Misérables in early 2015 and being succeeded byChris McCarrell, Mientus moved to Los Angeles with fiancé Michael Arden, where he appeared in the showBent at theMark Taper Forum.^[8] He also reprised his role as Hänschen in theDeaf West production ofSpring Awakening, directed by Arden. The production then transferred to Broadway, and closed on January 24, 2016.^[9]

In April and May 2018, Mientus starred in the production ofThe Who's Tommy at theDenver Center for the Performing Arts as the title role. In an interview, Mientus stated that theclassic rock score was among the music he grew up with rather than musical theater music, so he was very comfortable with the material vocally.^[10]

In 2013, Mientus was cast in season two of the musical drama television seriesSmash as series regular Kyle Bishop. Following the cancellation ofSmash, Mientus and co-starsJeremy Jordan andKrysta Rodriguez joined the cast ofHit List, the real-world staging of the fictionalrock musical created for season two ofSmash. The show ran for three performances on December 8–9 at54 Below.^[11]

In 2014, Mientus appeared in several episodes of theABC Family seriesChasing Life as Jackson.^[12] That same year, he was cast in a recurring role on theCW seriesThe Flash as thePied Piper (Hartley Rathaway), having previously auditioned for the lead role ofBarry Allen.^[13][14] Mientus made history with this role by playing the first openly gay supervillain ever.^[15]

In 2017 he was cast as a series regular oppositeLeven Rambin,Danny Pino andChris Noth inGone, a 12-episode procedural drama series for NBCUniversal International Studios, Germany's RTL and France's TF1, based onChelsea Cain's novelOne Kick. Mientus' character James Finley is a skilled hacker, who was kicked out of his home as a teenager when his family discovered he was gay. While living on the street he was abducted and later rescued by FBI Agent Frank Novak played by Chris Noth.^[16]

In 2021 Mientus was cast inGrendel, an eight-episodeNetflix series based onMatt Wagner'sDark Horse comic books. Mientus will play the role of Larry Stohler with Abubakr Ali as the lead, Grendel/Hunter Rose.^[17] The series air date is scheduled late 2022 to early 2023.^[18]

Mientus worked on a musical of his own with the Brooklyn-based band Teen Commandments (members Van Hughes, Nick LaGrasta, and Brett Moses). Songs fromBurn All Night were performed for the first time at Feinstein's/54 Below in theHell's Kitchen neighborhood ofMidtown Manhattan in August 2016.^[19] The official premiere of the musical directed by Jenny Koons and choreographed by Sam Pinkleton was on August 18, 2017, at theAmerican Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[20]

On March 9, 2018Amulet Books, an imprint ofAbrams, announced that Mientus has written a middle-grade fiction series calledThe Backstagers, based on the comics series of the same name. The first installment,The Backstagers and the Ghost Light, was published on September 25, 2018.^[21] On September 20, 2022, he released the queer young-adult paranormal novelFraternity.^[22]

Mientus has a rare neurological disorder calledHNPP (Hereditary Neuropathy with Pressure Palsies).^[23] During his freshman ballet class at the University of Michigan, his foot went numb and he had to pull out of the class for the remainder of the year. He was then put in a stage tech class, where he met fellow actorDarren Criss.

Mientus is openly bisexual.^[24] He married actor and directorMichael Arden on August 18, 2016, atBabington House,Somerset, England.^[25] He and Arden planned proposals to each other the same day (June 23, 2014), without the other knowing.^[26] They have been together since November 14, 2010.^[27] The two first met on October 26, 2006, during the opening night party of the Broadway showThe Times They Are-a-Changin', in which Arden was a performer.

• The Backstagers series (published byAmulet Books)
• The Backstagers and the Ghost Light (September 2018)
• The Backstagers the Theater of the Ancients (March 2019)
• The Backstagers and the Final Blackout (September 2019)
• Fraternity book (published byAmulet Books) (September 2022)

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City
• NYC Pride March

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAndy Mientus.

• Andy Mientus atIMDb

• 1986 births
• Living people
• American male stage actors
• American male television actors
• American people of Italian descent
• American people of Irish descent
• American people of Polish descent
• Bisexual male musicians
• Bisexual singers
• American bisexual male actors
• American bisexual musicians
• American LGBTQ singers
• LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania
• Male actors from Pennsylvania
• University of Michigan alumni
• 20th-century American LGBTQ people
• 21st-century American LGBTQ people

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