Santino Fontana (UofM '04) Stars in Tony Award winning "Act One"on Broadway

Santino Fontana, BFA Alum '04, stars in Broadway's Tony Award winning Act One based on theater producer-director Moss Hart's book of the same name and adapted by James Lapine. Nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play, this critically acclaimed new biographic work brings to life Hart's hilarious and heart- warming rags-to-riches tale of his early life and his astounding collaboration with George S. Kauffman on his first Broadway success, Once in a Lifetime, which would skyrocket these kings of American comedy on the Great White Way. "To watch Mr. Fontana's Hart... [and] Mr. Tony Shalhoub's Kaufman," raves Ben Brantley of The New York Times, "is to witness this season's most electric onstage chemistry."
Fontana is no stranger to important leading roles, critical acclaim, or to Broadway's Tony Awards. In 2006 he became the youngest actor to portray Hamlet on the Guthrie Theater stage. Last year he was recognized at the Tony Awards as a Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical nominee for his portrayal of Prince Topher in Cinderella. Earlier this spring he voiced the antagonist character Hans in Disney's hit animated musical Frozen.
Fontana was actually a member of the first-ever graduating class of the Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program in 2004. "[At the University of Minnesota], they stressed that we're artists first, not just actors," he told Broadway.com. "Our job is to create and also at the same time not limit ourselves. The world is going to limit you. I don't want to limit me." His career is indeed limitless, as he continues to embrace diverse roles as an actor, and to simultaneously pursue directing and composing.