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Killian Donnelly (born 25 June 1984) is an Irish tenor.[1] He has appeared in musicals and plays, such as Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Commitments, Memphis and Kinky Boots.

Killian Donnelly
Born	(1984-06-25) 25 June 1984 (age 38)
Origin	Kilmessan, County Meath, Ireland
Genres	Musical theatre
Occupation(s)	Actor, singer
Years active	2004–present

Background

Donnelly is from Kilmessan, in County Meath, Ireland, where he was a member of the St Mary's Musical Society.[2] He has one sister, Eimear, and one brother, Ciaran, who still live in Ireland. Donnelly is a tenor and plays piano and guitar.

Donnelly was scouted by a theatre agency while performing in a production in Ireland. He then made the move to London to pursue a career in musical theatre, securing a role in the West End production of Les Misérables.

Career

Donnelly has appeared in many different roles around Ireland and has also directed and written shows. His first theatre role was in 2005 where he featured in the chorus of The Wireman at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. He then continued to play Rod in Singin' in the Rain and Ethan in The Full Monty, both at the Olympia Theatre, Tony in West Side Story at the Solstice Theatre, Aladdin in Aladdin and Collins in Michael Collins: A Musical Drama, both at the Cork Opera House, Prince Charming in Cinderella at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin and Chorus in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Gate Theatre.

In 2008, he joined the West End production of Les Misérables as a swing and, as a member of the cast, was part of the Les Misérables concert with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on the Isle of Wight. He became second cover Javert and Enjolras in the following season of 2009/10, during which time he also performed the lead role of Jean Valjean as an emergency cover multiple times. With the following cast change he was promoted to principal Enjolras and was officially listed (and performed) as third cover Valjean. He eventually finished in Les Misérables on 18 June 2011.

Donnelly's next role was Raoul in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre.[3][4] During this time, he also featured in commercials for McDonald's and Jameson Whiskey, and appeared on such television shows as The Tudors, The Open House, The Late Late Show and Showbands. He later performed in You Should Be Dancing at the National Concert Hall.

On 3 October 2010, Donnelly played the role of Courfeyrac in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables at The O2 Arena in London. He also played the role of Combeferre in the film of the show, released in 2012.

On 12 November 2012, Donnelly took over the role of Tony in Billy Elliot The Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

On 20 August 2013, it was confirmed that Donnelly would originate the role of Deco in the West End Musical The Commitments[5] from 21 September.[6] The following year Donnelly began playing the role of Huey in Memphis from 9 October 2014 for which he was nominated as Best Actor in a Musical in the 2015 Olivier Awards[7]

On 23 April 2015, it was announced that Donnelly would play Charlie in the West End production of the musical Kinky Boots,[8] at the Adelphi Theatre. The first preview was on 21 August 2015.[9] On 29 February 2016 Donnelly was nominated as Best Actor in a Musical at the 2016 Olivier Awards.[10] He left the show on 13 August 2016 and moved back to Ireland to play Jackie Day in Donegal, a new play by Frank McGuinness.

On 6 December 2016, he made his Broadway debut, reprising the role of Charlie Price in Kinky Boots.[11]

On 12 June 2017, Donnelly returned to the West End production of Les Misérables to play the lead role, Jean Valjean,[12] subsequently reprising the role in the 2018 tour in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

On 29 February 2020, he returned to The Phantom of the Opera, this time playing The Phantom on the 2020 UK Tour.[13] Due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was closed just a few weeks into its run at Curve, Leicester,[14] ending Donnelly's run as The Phantom on tour.

On 4 December 2020, it was announced that Donnelly will reprise the role of The Phantom in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera when it is scheduled to reopen in June 2021.[15]

Filmography & Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary	Courfeyrac / Queen's Theatre Company
2011	The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall	Ensemble / Fireman #5
2012	Les Misérables	Combeferre
2019	Kinky Boots: The Musical	Charlie Price
2019	The Late Late Show	Himself	Singing Phantom of The Opera
2020	Britain's Got Talent	The Phantom	Part of The Shows Must Go On

Theatre Credits

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Location
2005	The Wireman	Ensemble	Gaiety Theatre, Dublin	Dublin
2005	Singin' in the Rain	Rod	Olympia Theatre	Dublin
2006	The Full Monty	Ethan	Olympia Theatre	Dublin
2006	West Side Story	Tony	Solstice Theatre	Dublin
2006	Aladdin	Aladdin	Cork Opera House	Cork
2007	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	Ensemble	Gate Theatre	London
2007	Cinderella	Prince Charming	Gaiety Theatre, Dublin	Dublin
2008-10	Les Misérables	Ensemble / Understudy Javert & Enjolras	Queen's Theatre	West End
2008		Feuilly / National Guardsmen	The Winter Gardens	Isle of Wight
2010-11		Enjolras / 3rd Cover Jean Valjean	Queen's Theatre	West End
2011-12	The Phantom of the Opera	Raoul	Her Majesty's Theatre	West End
2011	You Should Be Dancing	Ensemble	National Concert Hall	London
2012-13	Billy Elliot The Musical	Tony	Victoria Palace Theatre	West End
2013-14	The Commitments	Deco	Palace Theatre	West End
2014-15	Memphis	Huey	Shaftesbury Theatre	West End
2015-16	Kinky Boots	Charlie Price	Adelphi Theatre	West End
2016	Donegal	Jackie Day	Abbey Theatre	Dublin
2016-17	Kinky Boots	Charlie Price	Al Hirschfeld Theatre	Broadway
2017-18	Les Misérables	Jean Valjean	Sondheim Theatre	West End
2018-19			—	UK National Tour
2020	The Phantom of the Opera	The Phantom	—	UK National Tour
2021-present			Her Majesty's Theatre	West End

References

External links

• Killian Donnelly at IMDb

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