Norm Lewis

Norm Lewis was an American actor and singer who became an in-demand stage presence both on and off Broadway, while also making the occasional appearance in film and television. Born in Tallahassee, FL, Lewis grew up in Eatonville. After graduating from Edgewater High School in 1981, Lewis worked for the Orlando Sentinel, before deciding to pursue acting. With the encouragement of Ralph Petillo, who ran Orlando's Theater on Park, Lewis began taking classes and auditioning for roles locally. He landed his first film appearance in 1986, as a member of the Swing gang in Rob Reiner's coming of age classic "Stand By Me" (1986). Lewis first graced the stage as Agwe in a Long Island production of "Once On This Island" (1992), but his Broadway debut came when he was cast in a production of "The Who's Tommy" (1993). He was next cast as an understudy for the role of John in "Miss Saigon" (1995), and before long was climbing up the professional ladder, landing big roles in productions of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1999), "Dreamgirls" (2001), "Chicago" (2004), "Hair" (2004), and made history when he became the first black actor to play Javert in a production of "Les Miserables" (2006). During his time away from the stage, Lewis found himself playing Keith McLean in a nine-episode arc on the classic daytime soap opera "All My Children" (ABC/Hulu, 1970-2013) in 1998. He went on to appear in two acclaimed productions of George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" (2011/2012), appeared as Senator Edison Davis in four seasons of Shonda Rhimes' highly popular political drama "Scandal" (CBS, 2012-), before making history once again by becoming the first African American to play the titular character in a New York production of "The Phantom of the Opera" (2014), and the third worldwide. Lewis could most recently be seen on television as Caiaphas in NBC's live televised production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" (NBC, 2018). In January of 2018, Lewis' career came full circle, when he once again played Agwe in "Once On This Island" at the Circle in the Square theatre, 26 years after making his stage debut with that same role.