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Larry Owens (actor)

Larry Owens
Born
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • writer
  • singer
  • comedian
Years active2015–present
Known forA Strange Loop

Larry Owens is an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer. He received a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk Award for his leading performance in the off-Broadway musical A Strange Loop. He has acted on television shows including Search Party, High Maintenance, Modern Love and Abbott Elementary.

Early life and education

Owens was born and raised in East Baltimore, Maryland.[1] He named Hairspray as a musical he saw growing up that helped him see musical theater as a career path.[1] He loved the work of Stephen Sondheim and nurtured his interest at the performing arts camp Stagedoor Manor.[2]

He trained in acting and improvisational theater at the School at Steppenwolf, where Tarell Alvin McCraney, Amy Morton and K. Todd Freeman were some of his instructors.[3][4]

Owens moved to New York in 2015 to pursue a professional career in the performance arts.[2] He was a volunteer at the Musical Theatre Factory and there connected with playwright Michael R. Jackson, who wrote A Strange Loop.[2]

Career

Theatre

Owens performed in the musical theater productions Spamilton and Gigantic.[5] He also performed for Catherine Cohen's Cabernet Cabaret and hosted his own monthly show Decolonize Your Mind with Karen Chee.[6]

In 2019 he received critical acclaim for his performance in Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop, performed off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons and directed by Stephen Brackett.[5][3] Vinson Cunningham write in The New Yorker: "Owens... performs Jackson’s songs with power, humor, and pathos, filling in the textual gaps in Usher’s characterization with an entire life’s worth of mannerism and style."[7] For his performance he won a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, among other accolades.[8][9]

In July 2021 he starred in the original solo show Sondheimia, performed at Feinstein's/54 Below.[5]

Television

Owens was a staff writer for the truTV game show Paid Off.[10] He acted on season four of High Maintenance as well as the television shows Search Party, Abbott Elementary, Dash & Lily, Life & Beth, and Modern Love.[1][11][12][13] He is a voice actor in the Amazon animated series Fairfax.[14]

Personal life

Owens is gay.[6]

Filmography

Stage

Year Title Role Location Notes Ref
2012 Fat Camp Darnell American Theatre of Actors Off-Broadway [15]
2014 Grease Roger The Muny [16]
2014 Dreamgirls Tiny Joe Dixon / TV Stage Manager / The Five Tuxedos / Film Executive / Security Guard / Ensemble Gerding Theater at the Armory [16]
2015 Gigantic Darnell Vineyard Theatre Off-Broadway [15]
2016–2017 Spamilton Sondheim / Little Orphan Annie Triad Theatre Off-Broadway [17]
2017–2018 Puerto Rican Traveling Theater Off-Broadway [18]
2019 A Strange Loop Usher Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway [2]
2021 Sondheimia Protagonist Feinstein's/54 Below Solo show; also writer. [19]

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2020 Betty Devereaux 1 episode [5]
2020 High Maintenance Arnold 1 episode [2]
2020 The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America Belize Television movie [20]
2020 Helpsters Billy Bug 1 episode [21]
2020 Dash & Lily Artsy Guide 1 episode [5]
2021 Modern Love Toby Dooley Episode: "How Do You Remember Me?" [13]
2021–2022 Fairfax Jules (voice) Recurring role [14]
2021–2022 Search Party Idiot / Ritchie Recurring role [12]
2022 Life & Beth Clark Recurring role [22]
2022 Ziwe Pastor Episode: "Critical Race Theory"
2022–2023 Abbott Elementary Zach 4 episodes [11]
2022 Harley Quinn Music Meister (voice) Episode: "It's a Swamp Thing"

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2018 To Dust Stanley [23]
2018 A Chest of Drawers Barnaby Cromwell Short film [24]
2019 Last Ferry Shane [23]
2021 Puppet Me Host Short film [25]
2023 Problemista Craigslist [26]
2023 Dumb Money Chris
2023 Urkel Saves Santa: the Movie Santa (voice) Direct-to-Video
TBA Silent Retreat Eric Post-production [27]

Awards and nominations

For A Strange Loop

2019

2020

References

  1. ^ a b c "Larry Owens: Sunday In The Park 6 Feet Away From George". NPR. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Brunner, Jeryl. "He Went From Being Uncastable To Playing The Role Of A Lifetime In 'A Strange Loop'". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  3. ^ a b Ferri, Josh. "Five Burning Questions with A Strange Loop Breakout Star Larry Owens". Broadway Box. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  4. ^ Zinoman, Jason (2019-01-31). "Instead of Killer Punchlines, Killer Choruses". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Gans, Andrew. "Checking In With… A Strange Loop Star Larry Owens". Playbill. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  6. ^ a b Goldberg, David (2019-08-02). "Larry Owens on Broadway's beauty standards as a queer black man of size". Dazed. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  7. ^ Cunningham, Vinson (2019-06-21). "The Ecstatic Doubling of "A Strange Loop"". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  8. ^ "GMTWP Alum Michael R. Jackson Wins Pulitzer". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  9. ^ Variety Staff (2020-06-14). "'The Inheritance,' 'Strange Loop,' 'Moulin Rouge' Among Drama Desk Award Winners". Variety. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  10. ^ Chee, Karen (2018-03-02). "Larry Owens (@larryowenslive) Is Searching for a Twitter Bae". Vulture. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  11. ^ a b Jones, Marcus (2022-03-29). "'Abbott Elementary' star Chris Perfetti explains how Jacob is 'a total 180' from his usual roles". EW.com. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  12. ^ a b Petski, Denise (2021-10-29). "'Search Party': HBO Max Comedy Adds Seven To Season 5 Cast". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  13. ^ a b Porter, Rick (2021-02-22). "Amazon's 'Modern Love' Sets Star-Packed Cast for Season 2". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  14. ^ a b Zorilla, Monica Marie. "Kiersey Clemons, Jaboukie Young-White to Star in Amazon's Adult Animated Comedy 'Fairfax'". ph.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  15. ^ a b "Larry Owens Theatre Credits, News, Bio and Photos". www.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  16. ^ a b "Larry Owens theatre profile". www.abouttheartists.com. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  17. ^ "Larry Owens, Performer". www.theatricalindex.com. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  18. ^ Forbes, Harry. "Spamilton (47th Street Theater/The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater)". Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  19. ^ "Larry Owens' Sondheimia in Cabaret at Feinstein's/54 Below 2021". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  20. ^ Theater, New York (2020-10-09). "The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America". New York Theater. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  21. ^ "Helpsters returns for more of the adorable same". www.cultofmac.com. 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  22. ^ Oats, A. E. (2022-03-21). "Meet The Cast Of "Life & Beth"". TVOvermind. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  23. ^ a b "Larry Owens". Metacritic. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  24. ^ "A CHEST OF DRAWERS by Maxwell Nalevansky @ Brooklyn Film Festival". Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  25. ^ "Puppet Me". www.siff.net. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  26. ^ Grobar, Matt (November 11, 2021). "Greta Lee, Laith Nakli, Isabella Rossellini, RZA & More Board Julio Torres' Film For A24 And Emma Stone's Fruit Tree". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  27. ^ White, Peter (2022-02-10). "'Pitch Perfect': Todd Strauss-Schulson To Direct & EP Pilot Of Peacock Spinoff Series". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  28. ^ "Larry Owens". www.iobdb.com. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  29. ^ Huston, Caitlin (2020-06-18). "Drama League announces 2020 winners". Broadway News. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  30. ^ "Larry Owens, Christian Borle, and More Win 2020 Lucille Lortel Awards | TheaterMania". www.theatermania.com. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  31. ^ "Everything you need to know about A Strange Loop on Broadway". NewYorkTheatreGuide.com. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Owens_(actor)