Harvey Forbes Fierstein ( ; born June 6, 1952) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter, known for his distinctive gravelly voice. He gained notice for his theater work in Torch Song Trilogy, winning both the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play. He went on to win the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for La Cage aux Folles, then Best Actor in a Musical for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, a role he reprised for the Hairspray Live! television special.
On film he reprised his role in the film version of Torch Song Trilogy (1988), appeared in Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, and as the voice of Yao in both Mulan and Mulan II.
Fierstein also wrote the books for the Tony Award-winning musicals Kinky Boots, Newsies, and Tony Award-nominated, Drama League Award-winner A Catered Affair. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 2025 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.
As one of the first openly gay celebrities in the United States, Fierstein helped turn gay and lesbian life into a viable subject for contemporary drama "with no apologies and no climactic suicides".
Fierstein's distinctive gravelly voice is a result of an overdeveloped vestibular fold in his vocal cords, essentially giving him a "double voice" when he speaks. Fierstein has a brother, Ronald Fierstein. The family belonged to a Conservative Jewish temple. Prior to puberty, Fierstein was a soprano in a professional boys' choir.
Fierstein graduated from the High School of Art and Design and received a BFA from the Pratt Institute in 1973.
Career
Fierstein has authored op-eds for The New York Times and the PBS series In the Life.
1970s
Fierstein began working in the theater as a founding member of The Gallery Players of Park Slope before being cast in Andy Warhol's only play, Pork. Fierstein's other early roles included "a transvestite in his own Flatbush Tosca...a 300-year-old woman, Lillian Russell, and 26 other parts in Ronald Tavel's My Fetus Lived on Amboy Street". Fierstein also performed his own drag routine in Greenwich Village, including an impersonation of Ethel Merman singing "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun".
1980s
thumb|Fierstein in 1983
Fierstein is known for the play and film Torch Song Trilogy, which he wrote and starred in both off-Broadway (with a young Matthew Broderick) and on Broadway (with Estelle Getty and Fisher Stevens). The 1982 Broadway production won him two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play; two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play; and the Theatre World Award. Fierstein is the first openly gay actor to win a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
Fierstein also wrote the book for La Cage aux Folles (1983), winning another Tony Award, this time for Best Book of a Musical, and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Book. During his Tony Award acceptance speech, Fierstein acknowledged his male lover; according to Entertainment Weekly, this was "not a first", but was "still startling to many viewers". Legs Diamond, his 1988 collaboration with Peter Allen, was a critical and commercial failure, closing after 72 previews and 64 performances, but the songs live on in Peter Allen's biographical musical, The Boy from Oz.
1990s
Fierstein was praised for his 1990 role as the voice of Karl, Homer Simpson's assistant, in the "Simpson and Delilah" episode of The Simpsons.
Fierstein portrayed Mark Newberger in Cheers, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1992.
In 1993, Fierstein co-starred with Mara Wilson, Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, and Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire.
In 1994, Fierstein became the first gay actor to play a principal gay character in a television series when he appeared as fashion designer Dennis Sinclair in the short-lived CBS series Daddy's Girls.
Fierstein voiced the role of Yao in Disney's animated feature Mulan, a role he later reprised for the video game Kingdom Hearts II and the direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II.
Fierstein voiced the character of Elmer in the 1999 HBO special based on his children's book The Sissy Duckling, which won the Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation.
2000s
thumb|Fierstein (left) with [[Anthony Rapp at the Annual Flea Market and Grand Auction hosted by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, September 2006]]
Fierstein's Broadway acting credits include playing the mother, Edna Turnblad, in Hairspray (2002), for which he won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He later replaced Alfred Molina as Tevye in the 2004 revival of Fiddler on the Roof.
In 2007, Fierstein wrote the book to the musical A Catered Affair; he also starred in the production. After tryouts at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in September 2007, the show opened on Broadway April 17, 2008. It received 12 Drama Desk Award nominations and won the Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical.
Fierstein returned to the theater when he reprised the role of Tevye, replacing an injured Chaim Topol, in the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof starting in December 2009.
2010s
On February 15, 2011, Fierstein replaced Douglas Hodge as Albin/Zaza in the Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles. The show closed on May 1, 2011, after playing 433 performances and 15 previews.
Fierstein wrote the book for the stage musical Newsies, along with Alan Menken (music) and Jack Feldman (lyrics). The musical opened on Broadway in March 2012. Fierstein was nominated for the Tony Award for Book of a Musical.
Fierstein wrote the book for a stage musical version of the film Kinky Boots with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. After a fall 2012 run at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago, it opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Broadway in April 2013. The musical was nominated for thirteen 2013 Tony Awards and won six, including best musical.
Fierstein's play Casa Valentina was produced on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The play opened in April 2014. It was directed by Joe Mantello, with a cast that featured Patrick Page, John Cullum, and Mare Winningham.
Fierstein wrote the teleplay for the December 3, 2015, NBC broadcast of The Wiz Live!, featuring Stephanie Mills as Aunt Em, Queen Latifah as The Wiz, and David Alan Grier as the Lion. The teleplay is an adaptation of The Wiz, which ran on Broadway from October 1974 until January 1979.
Fierstein then wrote the teleplay for, and starred in, the 2016 NBC TV broadcast of Hairspray Live! with Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Kristin Chenoweth, and Martin Short.
In April 2016, Fierstein, along with his Kinky Boots collaborator Cyndi Lauper, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Fierstein wrote and starred in Bella Bella, a solo monologue play about New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug. It premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage One at City Center on October 1, 2019, directed by Kimberly Senior.
2020s
Fierstein's book I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir was released on March 1, 2022, and quickly became a New York Times Bestseller.
Personal life
Fierstein is openly gay.
Fierstein is Jewish.
Fierstein has struggled with alcohol abuse. In a 2022 interview, he stated that he stopped drinking alcohol following a suicide attempt in 1996. On the LGBTQ&A podcast the following month, Fierstein said, "I'm comfortable being me and if I ask myself, 'Would you want to transition?' The answer's no".
Performances and works
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1984
| Garbo Talks
| Bernie Whitlock
|
|-
| The Times of Harvey Milk
| Narrator
| Voice
|-
| 1988
| Torch Song Trilogy
| Arnold Beckoff
| Also the screenwriter (adapted his own play)
|-
| 1992
| The Harvest
| Bob Lakin
|
|-
| 1993
| Mrs. Doubtfire
| Francis "Frank" Hillard
|
|-
| 1994
| Bullets Over Broadway
| Sid Loomis
|
|-
| 1995
| Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde
| Yves DuBois
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1996
| The Celluloid Closet
| Himself
| Documentary
|-
| Independence Day
| Marty Gilbert
|
|-
| Everything Relative
| The Moyle
|
|-
| Elmo Saves Christmas
| Easter Bunny
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1997
| White Lies
| Art Hoarder
|
|-
| Kull the Conqueror
| Juba
|
|-
| Three Little Pigs
| The Big Bad Wolf
| Voice, short film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1998
| Mulan
| Yao
| Voice
|-
| Safe Men
| Leo
|
|-
| 1999
| Jump
| Dish Macense
|
|-
| 2000
| Playing Mona Lisa
| Bennett
|
|-
| 2002
| Death to Smoochy
| Merv Green
|
|-
| 2003
| Duplex
| Kenneth
|
|-
| 2004
| Mulan II
| Yao
|
|-
|Best Actor in a Play
|rowspan=2|La Cage aux Folles
|
|-
|Drama Desk Award
|Outstanding Book of a Musical
|Cheers
|
|-
|rowspan=4|2003
|Tony Award
|Best Actor in a Musical
|rowspan=4|Hairspray
|
|-
|Drama Desk Award
|Outstanding Actor in a Musical
|
|-
|Drama League Award
|Outstanding Performance
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2008
|Drama League Award
|Outstanding Production of a Musical
| rowspan="2" |A Catered Affair
|
|-
|Drama Desk Award
|Outstanding Book of a Musical
|rowspan=2|Newsies
|
|-
|Outer Critics Circle Award
|Outstanding Book of a Musical
|
|-
|rowspan=2|2013
|Tony Award
|Best Book of a Musical
|rowspan=2|Kinky Boots
|
|-
|Outer Critics Circle Award
|Outstanding Book of a Musical
|
|-
|2014
|Tony Award
|Best Play
|Casa Valentina
|
|-
|2025
|Tony Award
|Lifetime Achievement Tony Award
|
|
|-
|}
See also
- List of atheists in film, radio, television and theater
- LGBT culture in New York City
- List of LGBT people from New York City
References
External links
- Review of Torch Song Trilogy, with information about Fierstein
- TonyAwards.com Interview with Harvey Fierstein
- Donald L. Brooks' memoir of early casting of Fierstein and commissioning and directing Fierstein's first play.
- Harvey Fierstein papers (MS 1864). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. Collection: Harvey Fierstein papers | Archives at Yale