Andrew Burnap: From Rhode Island Roots to Broadway Star and Beyond
Andrew Burnap, born on March 5, 1991, is an accomplished American actor celebrated for his captivating stage presence and seamless transition to on-screen roles. From his early fascination with performing arts to his Tony Award-winning performance in "The Inheritance" and his roles in popular television series and films, Burnap's journey is a testament to his talent, dedication, and versatility.
Early Life and Education: Nurturing a Passion for Performance
Growing up in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, Andrew Burnap developed an early fascination with the performing arts. Influenced by local theater productions and classic films, Burnap's passion for acting began to take shape. His mother, Allison, recalled him going "into a trance" while listening to Christmas songs when he was a boy of five or six, noting that "That Christmas he asked for a top hat and cane".
Burnap attended South Kingstown High School, where he initially dabbled in theater before committing more seriously during his senior year. This early exploration laid the foundation for his future endeavors in the world of acting.
University of Rhode Island: Honing the Craft
Burnap completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Rhode Island, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting in 2013. His time at URI was marked by active participation in campus theater productions, where he performed leading roles in works such as Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," Stephen Sondheim's "Company," Molière's "Tartuffe," and the musical "Singin' in the Rain." Just three years ago, Andrew Burnap was performing Shakespeare onstage at URI’s Robert E. Will Theatre. Andrew spent a month in the title role of Troilus, a young prince who seeks the affection of Cressida in one of Shakespeare’s most rarely produced plays.
During his undergraduate years, Burnap also received notable honors, including winning the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Award at the regional Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival in 2012, where he outperformed 250 nominees from 55 New England institutions. Andrew came to acting through his love of music. He sings and dances and plays the trumpet, piano, and guitar. And he plays dramatic and musical roles with equal ease. “They are completely different art forms,” he said. “However, I think the most alike are Shakespeare and Sondheim. In both, when feeling a complex emotion, you burst into something different. In Shakespeare, it’s verse and poetry.
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Offstage, Burnap’s nose is bleeding in Much Ado About Nothing. “His whole face was bloody,” Khoshatefeh recalls. She watched Burnap vainly try to stop the blood flow, which only made more of a mess. “He came onstage, put his hand over my mouth, and kissed his hand. It went with the show because Beatrice and Benedick spend the whole play bickering. It was such a great moment: beautiful and kind of perfect,” Khoshatefeh says. Burnap laughs at the memory. “I had to do something,” he says. “And when something is undeniably real, it sparks new life into the story. The audience is sitting forward and participating in the magic of live performance.
Yale School of Drama: Mastering the Art
Burnap then enrolled in the Yale School of Drama's three-year Master of Fine Arts program in Acting, graduating in 2016 as the valedictorian of his class. The curriculum emphasized intensive, conservatory-style training in voice, movement, text analysis, and ensemble work, drawing on classical texts and contemporary plays to develop versatile performers.
As part of the program's capstone requirements, third-year students like Burnap participated in fully produced thesis projects at Yale Repertory Theatre, showcasing advanced interpretive abilities.
New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University, 149 York St., January 2013. Three small studios and a communal sitting area offer no privacy. Students await their auditions to the Yale School of Drama. Some shake their hands, some text. “I’d prepared four monologues. I was so unbelievably nervous,” Burnap recalls. “They told us, ‘Don’t worry. We want you to be good. Burnap first auditioned for Wilson. Then, a return to the waiting room for what seemed hours. Finally, a Yale student bearing the list arrived and said, “If your name’s on the list, stay. If not, thank you; nothing more is required of you,” Burnap recalls. “I was always the last person to look at the lists. I sort of gingerly walked over and saw my name and was like, ‘Holy shit!’ I took a picture. Burnap’s name was one of only four. Thirty had auditioned. The second audition came and went. Then there were three. The last interview had the feeling of the final scene in Flashdance: Burnap alone with a panel of five judges. He joked with them, got a few laughs. “I was self-deprecating, made fun of myself and Yale. The three actors who followed Burnap left the interview crying. “Then I thought, I should have cried. Why did I tell stupid jokes? Ron Van Lieu laughs at Burnap’s recollection. “When they enter the room, you try to diffuse their anxiety, tension, and stress,” he says. “He had a charismatic presence that is not teachable,” Van Lieu says of Burnap. “Evaluating students you’re thinking, do you really want to watch him? Do you miss him when he leaves the stage? Yes. Yes. And yes, thought Van Lieu, watching the younger man audition. The professor saw some other things, too. “He didn’t know the difference between performing and acting. His auditions were a little show-offy.
“At URI, I felt I had this remarkable thing inside of me, a sense of confidence and knowledge. At Yale, I lost the feeling of being remarkable and it allowed me to work from a place of humility. I was watching classmates do incredible work and feeling less than. I knew I had a lot more to learn. He did. In 2017, Burnap graduated first in his class and landed the male lead in Shakespeare in the Park’s Troilus and Cressida. He’s been working steadily since. He seems a little awed by it. And deeply grateful. “He is my soulful kid; he thinks deeply and feels deeply,” says Burnap’s mother, Allison.
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Stage Success: From Shakespeare to Tony Awards
Burnap's professional stage career began in 2014 with the Public Theatre's revivals of "King Lear". In 2014, he was part of the ensemble in the revival of King Lear starring John Lithgow, Annette Bening and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. In 2016, he starred as Troilus in Troilus and Cressida. Other New York theater includes This Day Forward (Donald/Leo) at the Vineyard Theatre. Regional theater includes Caucasian Chalk Circle at Yale Repertory Theatre; Once Five Years Pass and Dental Society Midwinter Meeting at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Two Gentlemen of Verona, Kiss Me Kate, Coriolanus and All’s Well That Ends Well at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.
Burnap's breakthrough came with his portrayal of the charismatic yet troubled writer Toby Darling in Matthew López's epic two-part play "The Inheritance", which premiered at London's Young Vic in March 2018 before transferring to the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End later that year. Directed by Stephen Daldry, the production explored the intergenerational legacy of the AIDS crisis among gay men in contemporary New York, drawing loose inspiration from E.M. Forster's "Howards End".
The play's Broadway transfer opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in November 2019, where Burnap reprised Toby in a sprawling ensemble of 13 actors, emphasizing themes of inheritance-both literal and emotional-in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Burnap's performance earned him the 2020 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, presented at the delayed 74th Annual Tony Awards in September 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Broadway run, which had been building momentum with strong box office and critical buzz, abruptly shuttered in March 2020 amid global theater closures, cutting short what was poised to be a landmark season.
Andrew Burnap was not supposed to be cast in The Inheritance, a contemporary play spanning three years - 2015 to the present - with flashbacks to the Reagan era, a turbulent time for gay men in America. Playwright Matthew Lopez had only asked Burnap to do a three-day workshop for it (Burnap had starred in Lopez’s 2017 sensation The Legend of Georgia McBride). For The Inheritance workshop, Burnap would read the part of Toby Darling - but with the understanding that he would not be cast in the role. “And I did the three-day workshop, and there was John Lithgow and Cory Michael Smith and they were so wonderful,” Burnap recalls. “And I remember telling my manager I would pay to be a stage prop in any production of the play. Burnap was called for a second, weeklong workshop when Lopez couldn’t find anyone he wanted to read the part of Toby Darling. But this time Burnap had workshopped the play in the presence of Stephen Daldry, two-time Tony Award-winning director. “And Matthew called and said, ‘Daldry hasn’t stopped talking about you.
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In his acceptance speech, Burnap expressed immediate shock and joy, beginning with a lighthearted admission of nervousness before thanking his family, the production's ensemble and director Stephen Daldry, and playwright López for creating a narrative that explored intergenerational queer experiences amid the AIDS crisis. He emphasized the play's role in fostering empathy and visibility for LGBTQ+ stories, stating, "This play is about love, and it's about legacy," and dedicated the honor to those affected by the epidemic.
Building on this success, Burnap took on the role of the idealistic King Arthur in the Lincoln Center Theater revival of Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot", which premiered at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in April 2023 with a revised book by Aaron Sorkin. His portrayal emphasized Arthur's internal conflicts and optimism in a darkening world, earning praise for its sincerity and vocal warmth, as noted in JK's Theatre Scene for embodying a "human, conflicted, and unsure" leader. For his performance, he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical. Later that year, he portrayed Joris Ivens in the off-Broadway play Spain written by Jen Silverman, where he acted opposite Marin Ireland.
Transition to Screen: Television and Film Roles
Burnap's television career began with guest appearances in several series, marking his entry into scripted programming after establishing himself on stage. In 2018, he appeared in an episode of the CBS psychological thriller "Instinct", playing a supporting role that introduced him to on-camera work. This was followed by a guest appearance in an episode of the 2019 military drama "The Code" on CBS, where he portrayed Sgt. Julian Lucas.
He achieved greater visibility with lead and supporting roles in high-profile limited series. In 2022, Burnap starred as Phil in the Apple TV+ miniseries "WeCrashed", depicting a tech executive entangled in the scandal-plagued WeWork empire alongside Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway. Burnap continued to expand his screen presence with a guest appearance as Father Macelvoy, a compassionate priest, in an episode of the 2023 Apple TV+ series "Dear Edward", a family drama centered on the aftermath of a plane crash, adapted from Ann Napolitano's novel. In 2024, he guest-starred as Gary Muscar, a troubled suspect in a murder case, in an episode of the CBS procedural "FBI: Most Wanted".
Burnap's first leading film role came in 2024 with "The Front Room", a psychological thriller directed by brothers Max Eggers and Sam Eggers, adapted from Lauren Oliver's short story. In 2025, Burnap achieved wider cinematic recognition as Jonathan in Disney's live-action remake of "Snow White", directed by Marc Webb.
Personal Reflections and Insights
At 27, Andrew Burnap has had more than a few beautiful moments: a stellar undergraduate career at URI, graduating first in his class from Yale School of Drama, making his professional debut as Troilus in Troilus and Cressida in Central Park’s Delacorte Theater. Tony Award-winner Stephen Daldry directed this epic, seven-hour play about gay men living in New York City a generation after the AIDS crisis. Burnap played Toby Darling - a name almost too perfect for those who know him well. They use words like “intoxicating,” “magical,” and “shiny” to describe him. Friend Sam Gross, who saw him in The Inheritance, has an awed-but-not-surprised response to his success. “The Inheritance is one of the most emotional things I’ve ever experienced,” he says. “People were crying. People were stunned at intermission. “He fills every stage,” Gross says. Burnap appreciates accolades but, when asked about his idea of success, doesn’t talk about seeing his name on a Broadway marquee or starring in a Marvel Comics movie. “To me, making it is when others in your field come to see your work,” he says. “Theater gives me the opportunity to understand what it means to be human - flawed, a walking contradiction,” Burnap says.
“My job is to show you that I understand the experience,” he says. “You have to become a keen observer of life. I was born with this wonderful and cruel capacity to feel,” Burnap says. “Acting makes you want to not only learn more about yourself, but, more importantly, about others. “And every time I perform, I feel my soul and sense of humanity expanding more and more.
Burnap recites a line from his favorite novel, James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: “Welcome, O life! To those who aspire to a similar path, Burnap’s advice is a variation on Hamlet’s exhortation, “To thine own self be true”: “Celebrate your oddities and your quirkiness: The things that make you remarkable are often your missteps, your perceived flaws, the things you hide,” Burnaps says. “The things I’m trying to run away from,” Burnap says. “The things that are buried deep are truths everyone has, and the minute you grapple with those things - doors suddenly fly open. One uncomfortable industry truth, the surety of rejection, prompts a second bit of advice and a circling back to Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist: “If someone tells you, ‘No,’ ask, ‘Why not?’ Doubt is a useful thing, but it shouldn’t rule you. It should inform and maybe affect some of your decisions, but it should not be the resounding voice in your soul,” Burnap says.
“My family has a very strong line of depression running through it,” Burnap says. “I started to battle depression at an early age, and it took ahold of me and became full-on depression in my freshman year at college. “And at that point, I had no interest in understanding it. It wasn’t until I got to Yale that I wanted to understand this part of me,” he continues. With his parents’ and Yale’s knowledge, Burnap weaned off of his medication. “I felt medication didn’t let me feel the emotional lows or the emotional highs.
Andrew is incredibly reserved, humble, gracious, and inclined to underplay his place in the world,” Howard continues. Tony Estrella ’93, Burnap’s Shakespeare teacher at URI, smiles to hear of his Much Ado About Nothing mishap. “It is tough to improvise in iambic pentameter,” he notes. “And you don’t want to break the bond with the audience. Estrella is disinclined to take credit for the younger actor’s success. Burnap entered URI already almost fully formed as an actor, Estrella says.Technique and practice as they apply to singing and dancing are concepts easily grasped. But what does it take to enter the interior world of a character? As a cisgender man playing a gay man in The Inheritance or a transgender alien from Transylvania in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Burnap notes that the characters are signifiers meant to highlight some aspect of a shared human experience.
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