Andrew Rannells

Andrew Scott Rannells (born August 23, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, and singer.

Biography
Rannells was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Charlotte and Ronald Rannells. He is the fourth of five siblings, with three sisters and an older brother. He is of Polish and Irish ancestry. His family lived in the Hanscom Park neighborhood in Omaha.

Rannells attended Our Lady of Lourdes grade school and then Creighton Preparatory School, an all-boys Roman Catholic school in Omaha. As a child, he took classes at the Emmy Gifford Children's Theater and performed at the Omaha Community Playhouse and the Firehouse Dinner Theatre and the Dundee Dinner Theatre. Rannells was 11 when he did his first play. He did community theater with fellow Omahan and Creighton Prep alumnus Conor Oberst.

He would go on to do local voice-over work and commercials, including a 1996 Grease spoof with Amy Adams. Rannells moved to New York City in 1997 after high school, studying theater at Marymount Manhattan College for two years before he started auditioning full-time and was landing roles.

For over several years, he worked with 4Kids Entertainment, where his experience with Omaha voice-over work served him well. He also directed a small number of series, including Kirby: Right Back At Ya! and Sonic X.

Before winning his first Broadway role, Rannells had parts in a number of regional theater productions, including Hamilton, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Miss Saigon, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. In 2006, he won the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway production of Hairspray. This was his first Broadway show, what he considers his big break. Rannells followed this with some regional performances, playing Bob Gaudio in the First National Tour of Jersey Boys.

Rannells originated the role of Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, a musical written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez. For his performance, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for his performance in the musical's Original Broadway Cast Recording. As a featured soloist on the musical's original Broadway cast recording, he won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

He received his second Tony nomination in 2017 for his performance as Whizzer in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos, directed by James Lapine.

Animated Series

 * Funky Cops (2002-2004) - Jack Kowalski (4Kids Dub)

Animated Films

 * The Boy Who Wanted To Be a Bear (2002) - Additional Voices

Animated Specials

 * The Fight for the FoxBox (2003) - Decoe, Jack Kowalski, Chief Bookem, Conner

Anime

 * Tama & Friends (1993-1994) - Tama
 * Pokémon (1997-2002) - Shiro (ep. 166), Nario (ep. 173) , Morty (eps. 181-182, 229)
 * Pokémon Chronicles (1998-2003) - Shinji (eps. 1-3), Forrest (ep. 5) , Tommy (ep. 5)
 * One Piece (1999-present) - Roronoa Zolo (young) (4Kids Dub)
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! (2000-2004) - Noah Kaiba, Leon von Schroeder, Mako Tsunami, Blacksuit B (ep. 8), Duelist (ep. 60)
 * Blacksuit A (ep. 8) (Uncut Version)
 * Fighting Foodons (2001-2002) - Albert, Fried Ricer
 * Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (2001-2003) - Narrator, Nightmare, Rick, Benikage, Chief Bookem (eps. 79-100), Max Flexer (ep. 61) , Additional Voices
 * Shaman King (2001-2003) - Len Tao, Luka
 * Mew Mew Power (2002-2003) - Dren, Wesley J. Coolridge
 * Pokémon Advanced Generation (2002-2006) - Harley (eps. 103-144), Nicholai (eps. 5 & 48) , Chaz (ep. 13) , Forrest Franklin (ep. 14) , Forrester Franklin (ep. 14) , Civilian (ep. 65) , Poncho (ep. 67) , Chef (ep. 119) , Guard (ep. 119) , Additional Voices
 * Ultimate Muscle (2002-2004) - Additional Voices
 * Sonic X (2003-2006) - Narrator, Decoe, Bokkun, Mr. Stewart, Gamma, E-101 Beta, Officer (ep. 1), Sound Operator (ep. 19) , Officer (ep. 21) , GUN Soldiers (ep. 26) , Jim (ep. 33) , SWAT Officer A (ep. 34) , Astronomer B (ep. 40)
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (2004-2008) - Belowski

Anime Films

 * Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2004) - Referee

Video Game Dubbing

 * One Piece: Pirate's Carnival (2005) - Bellamy
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) - GUN Soldiers, Blue Falcon, Heavy Dog

Voice Director

 * Kirby: Right Back At Ya!
 * Sonic X (eps. 1-52)

Note

 * Rannells has stopped appearing in anime dubs since 2008 due to becoming a Broadway performer and a mainstream on-camera actor in Film and Television, having been replaced in his ongoing roles.
 * Daniel J. Edwards replaced Rannells as Mako Tsunami in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links.
 * Laura Stahl replaced Rannels as Tao Ren in the 2021 adaptation of Shaman King.