Wilson Jermaine Heredia
{{short description|American actor}}
{{blp sources|date = June 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Wilson Jermaine Heredia
| image =
| imagesize = 180px
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1971|12|02}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|singer|dancer}}
| spouse =
| yearsactive = 1995–present
| website =
}}
Wilson Jermaine Heredia (born December 2, 1971) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Angel Dumott Schunard in the Broadway musical Rent, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor Featured in a Musical in 1996.{{Cite web |title=Winners |url=https://www.tonyawards.com/winners/year/1996/category/any/show/any/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=www.tonyawards.com |language=en-US}} The same year, he also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.{{Cite web |last=Viagas |first=Robert |date=1996-05-20 |title=Drama Desk Awards to Rent, Master Class |url=https://playbill.com/article/drama-desk-awards-to-rent-master-class-com-328913 |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=Playbill.com}} Heredia also originated the role at London's Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End theatre district and in the 2005 film adaptation.
Life and career
Heredia was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic – a seamstress mother and a building superintendent father.{{cite web |last=Garcia |first=John |url=http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/feb/29/stars-jai-rodriguez-wilson-jermaine-9th-column/?print |title=Bravo TV star Jai Rodriguez and Tony Award winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia to attend Column Awards |website=Pegasus News |date=2008-02-29 |access-date=2012-02-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226154135/http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/feb/29/stars-jai-rodriguez-wilson-jermaine-9th-column/?print |archive-date=2012-02-26 }}{{cite news| url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/17514139.html?dids=17514139:17514139&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+12%2C+1996&author=Jonathan+Mandell&pub=Newsday+(Combined+editions)&desc=How+Can+You+Measure+%60Rent'%3F+%2F+Take+the+Tonys%2C+for+example%3A+Four+newcomers+from+the+musical's+ensemble+cast+have+been+nominated%3B+two+had+never+acted+professionally+before&pqatl=google | first=Jonathan | last=Mandell | title=How Can You Measure 'Rent'? / Take the Tonys, for example: Four newcomers from the musical's ensemble cast have been nominated; two had never acted professionally before | work=Newsday | date=May 12, 1996 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306233244/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/doc/278905600.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May%2012,%201996&author=Jonathan%20Mandell&pub=Newsday%20(Combined%20editions)&edition=&startpage=&desc=How%20Can%20You%20Measure%20%60Rent%27?%20/%20Take%20the%20Tonys,%20for%20example:%20Four%20newcomers%20from%20the%20musical%27s%20ensemble%20cast%20have%20been%20nominated;%20two%20had%20never%20acted%20professionally%20before | archive-date=March 6, 2016}} He has appeared in several films, including his portrayal of Cha-Cha, the drag queen, in 1999's Flawless, where he worked opposite former Rent castmate Daphne Rubin-Vega. The film also stars Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Heredia also appeared in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Nocturne".
Along with five other principal members of the original Broadway cast, Heredia appeared in the film release of Rent, directed by Chris Columbus.{{Cite web |date=2016-06-24 |title=20 Years After Tony: Wilson Jermaine Heredia on the poignant & lasting impact of Rent |url=https://bleepmag.com/2016/06/24/20-years-after-tony-wilson-jermaine-heredia-on-the-poignant-lasting-impact-of-rent/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=BLEEP Magazine |language=en}} Heredia stated that he enjoys the transformational process involved in assuming the persona of the cross-dressing Angel, but dislikes having makeup on his face and found the high heels he had to wear as part of his costume extremely painful. Heredia says he enjoyed the blackly comedic parody of Rent in the film Team America: World Police,{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} which features a fictional Broadway musical called Lease. He enjoys filming because the close up shots allow him to "cut loose" and go wild a lot more than the stage allows.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
On January 9, 2006, he presented an award at the Critics' Choice Awards with Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, and Tracie Thoms, his costars from the Rent motion picture. He appeared along with Dawson and Thoms on the 2007 film Descent, playing the character of Diego.
Heredia has also guest starred on Medium and Without a Trace, and in 2009 he filmed a pilot called Three Chris's.
He made his return to Broadway in La Cage aux Folles on February 15, 2011, in the role of Jacob (replacing Robin de Jesús). He starred alongside Harvey Fierstein (who won a Tony Award for writing the Book of the musical) as Albin/Zaza and Broadway veteran Christopher Sieber as Georges.
{{As of|2013}}, Heredia lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He starred in San Francisco Playhouse's production of Camelot, as Sir Lancelot, and Berkeley Playhouse's production of A Little Princess as Pasko.{{cite news|last=Katz|first=Leslie|url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/new-yorks-heredia-enjoying-the-west-coast-life/|title=New York's Heredia enjoying the West Coast life|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|date=2013-10-31}}
He made an appearance in the 2021 film Tick, Tick ...BOOM!, which was based on the musical of the same name by Rent creator Jonathan Larson.{{Cite web |last=Gans |first=Andrew |date=2022-04-08 |title=Checking In With… Rent Tony Winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia |url=https://playbill.com/article/checking-in-with...-rent-tony-winner-wilson-jermaine-heredia |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=Playbill.com}}
In 2022, Heredia was cast as the lead in Syracuse Stage's world premiere of the musical How to Dance in Ohio, based on the award winning documentary of the same name by Alexandra Shiva.{{Cite web |last=Call |first=Curtain |date=2022-06-17 |title=Wilson Jermaine Heredia to lead the World Premiere cast of How To Dance In Ohio at Syracuse Stage |url=https://curtaincallbway.com/2022/06/17/wilson-jermaine-heredia-to-lead-the-world-premiere-cast-of-how-to-dance-in-ohio-at-syracuse-stage/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=CURTAINCALL |language=en-GB}}
In August of 2023, Heredia lent his voice to the Broadway Podcast Network audio drama Around the Sun, starring as "Kyle" in three episodes of Season 3: Pinecones. The project paired him with yet another "Angel" from Jonathan Larson's Rent: Jai Rodriguez.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-30 |title=Around The Sun Podcast starts Season 3 |url=https://stagebuddy.com/theater/theater-feature/around-the-sun-podcast |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=StageBuddy.com |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{IMDb name|0378880}}
- {{rotten-tomatoes-person|1179726}}
- [http://www.rentmovieblog.com/archives/wilson_jermaine_heredia/index.php Heredia blog archive]
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| title = Awards for Wilson Jermaine Heredia
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{{DramaDesk MusicalOutstandingFeaturedActor 1975-1999}}
{{TonyAward MusicalFeaturedActor 1976-2000}}
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Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male musical theatre actors
Category:American people of Dominican Republic descent
Category:American male television actors
Category:Drama Desk Award winners
Category:Hunter College alumni
Category:Hispanic and Latino American male actors
Category:Male actors from Brooklyn