Since making his Broadway debut as Franklin in the musical, Mail, in 1988 – for which he won a Theatre World award – Brian Stokes Mitchell has divided his time between the stage and television. After a short run in an all-black revival production of George and Ira Gershwin’s Oh, Kay!, Mitchell earned his first starring role as the replacement for Jelly Roll Morton in Jelly’s Last Jam in 1993 and appeared as the replacement for Valentin in the Kander and Ebb musical adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994.
In 1998, Brian Stokes Mitchell was nominated for a Tony Award® for his portrayal of Coalhouse Walker, Jr., in the original Broadway production of Ragtime and won one as Best Actor in a Musical the following year playing the roles of Fred Graham and Petruchio in the revival of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate.
In 2003, he was nominated for yet another Tony® as Cervantes in the revival of Leigh and Darion’s hit musical, Man of La Mancha. Elsewhere, Mitchell played Emile in the 2005 concert production of South Pacific, which was filmed by PBS.
