Robert Fairchild

Dancer Robert Fairchild's athletic, Tony-nominated performance in the Broadway production of "An American in Paris" led to a film career that included a pivotal role in the 2019 film version of "Cats" (2019). Born in Salt Lake City, Fairchild and his older sister, Megan, hailed from parents whose careers lay outside the dance world - their father was a wildlife biologist, their mother a dietician- but a family love for musicals inspired both siblings to take up dance lessons. Eventually, both headed to New York to train at the School of American Ballet, and by his mid-teens, Fairchild was moving up the ranks of the New York City Ballet. He was made apprentice in 2005 and joined the corps de ballet the following summer, with soloist status and appointment as principal dancer coming in 2007 and 2009, respectively. In 2015, Fairchild earned his breakout stage role as the lead in "An American in Paris," a Broadway musical based on the classic 1951 MGM movie musical. As Jerry Mulligan - the Army lieutenant and aspiring artist played by Gene Kelly in the film - Fairchild won rave reviews, a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, and Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards and the Fred Astaire Award for Best Male Dancer. The exposure led to appearances in "A Chorus Line" at the Hollywood Bowl, "Oklahoma!" at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and offers for acting roles in film television. The avalanche of projects spurred Fairchild to amicably part ways with the New York City Ballet in 2017; that same year, he made his debut as choreographer in "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," an Off-Broadway production about the novelist and her most famous creation, with Fairchild performing as the Creature. He made his feature film debut the following year in a filmed production of "American in Paris" that screened in theaters, which was quickly followed by roles in "The Chaperone" (2018), a period musical for PBS written by Julian Fellowes ("Downton Abbey," ITV, 2010-2015), and in Tom Hooper's big-screen adaptation of "Cats," for which he was cast as the narrator, Munkustrap.