Anthony Deane Rapp is an American stage and film actor and singer best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in the Broadway production of Rent in 1996 and later for reprising the role in the film version and the Broadway Tour of Rent in 2009.
RENT Credits[]
New York Theatre Workshop - 10/29/94 - 11/06/94 - Mark Cohen
Broadway - 4/29/96 - 01/04/98 - Mark Cohen
Film - 2005 - Mark Cohen
Broadway - 07/30/07 - 10/07/07 - Mark Cohen
“Mark” Tour - 01/06/09 - 02/07/10 - Mark Cohen
Biography (1996)[]
Anthony Rapp (Mark) is proud to have been associated with RENT since it’s ‘94 studio production at NYTW. B’Way: Precious Sons (Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award nom.), Six Degrees of Seperation. Off-B’Way: RENT (Obie Award), Raised In Captivity, Trafficking in Broken Hearts, Youth is Wasted, Sophistry, The Destiny of Me. Film and TV: Adventures in Babysitting, School Ties, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees…, Twister, The Mantis Murder, David Searching, “The Lazarus Man”. He studies and teaches with Sande Shurin.
Memoir[]
Anthony's memoir
In 2006 Rapp published a memoir; Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical RENT, that recalls the events of his life in relation to the musical Rent and its writer, Jonathan Larson, as well as the death of Rapp's mother by cancer. It contains photographs of his family in addition to the text.
Quotes[]
| “ |
To say it's a dream come true doesn't do it justice, because I've never dreamed this big. The film and play stand side by side -- you get the advantage of more intimacy in the film's close-ups, and the advantage of live rock onstage. |
” |
—Anthony Rapp, on the Film Adaptation of RENT | ||
| “ |
Frankly, if people aren't going to cast me because I'm queer, than I don't want to work with them. |
” |
—Anthony Rapp | ||
Trivia[]
- Has been acting since he was a young kid.
- Sang Losing My Religion by REM for his Rent audition.
- Is openly queer.
- Was one of two actors to have been in both the 1994 workshop version of Rent, and the 1996 Broadway version ( the other being Daphne Rubin-Vega.)
- He was one of six to reprise their original role in the 1996 Broadway version to the 2005 film ( the others being Adam Pascal, Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin and Wilson Jermaine Heredia.)
- Anthony Rapp kept the famous scarf he wore as Mark in the original Broadway show. It could not be used in the film, however, because the white was too bright for the camera. Instead he wears a navy and light gray scarf.
- Also worked with Idina Menzel in the 2013 Broadway musical If/Then.
Gallery[]
Appearances in Rent Productions[]
As Mark Cohen[]
- RENT, the original Broadway version.
- RENT (2005), the film adaptation