Jonathan B. Wright

Director · Cast · Writer

Born

December 13, 1986 · Livonia, Michigan, USA

Jonathan B. Wright is an American stage and screen actor best known for originating the role of Hänschen Rilow in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening (2006). Film and TV credits include Gossip Girl (2021), Youth In Revolt (2009), and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2007). Wright was born in Ypsilanti, MI, the son of Pamela, a school teacher, and Tom Wright, a firefighter. He began acting at the age of 14 at the Creative and Performing Arts Program (CAPA) located at Winston Churchill H.S. in Livonia, MI, then headed by Gail Susan Mack, a student of Uta Hagen. At the age of 16, Jonathan came to New York City and attended the summer acting workshop at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Upon graduation from High School in 2005, he returned to New York to become the youngest member of The Actors Center's nine-month conservatory program, where he studied with teachers from Juilliard, Yale, and NYU. Jonathan auditioned in 2005 for a role in the off-Broadway musical production of Spring Awakening at the Atlantic Theater Company. Jonathan was cast in the role of Hänschen, the choir boy who seduces his fellow male classmate, for which he received rave reviews, being cited by some as a scene-stealer. He continued with Spring Awakening as it moved to Broadway and went on to win eight Tony awards. In 2015, Wright was cast in the Center Theatre Group's production of Martin Sherman's BENT, directed by Moises Kaufman in Los Angeles.