Ramin Karimloo
| Ramin Karimloo (Rah-meen) | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 19, 1978 |
| Origin | Tehran, Iran/Richmond Hill, Canada |
| Occupations | Actor, Singer, Songwriter, Producer |
| Website | http://www.raminkarimloo.net |
Ramin Karimloo (born September 19, 1978) is an Iranian-born Canadian musical theatre actor, recognized chiefly for his work in London's West End. He has played major and leading male roles in both of the West End's longest running musicals; Raoul and the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera; and Marius, Enjolras, and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. He also originated the role of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, which continues the story of The Phantom of the Opera.
Contents |
[edit] Career
In Canada, Karimloo moved to Richmond Hill from Peterborough and graduated from Alexander Mackenzie High School. He began his performing career in rock bands and various theatre projects before moving on to perform in theatre companies for Airtours and P&O Cruises.
After moving to England, his first role was in a pantomime of Aladdin in Chatham, in which he played the title role. Following this, in 2001, he went on to join the UK national tour of The Pirates of Penzance, understudying and then playing the role of the Pirate King.
In 2002, Karimloo joined the national tour of Sunset Boulevard, playing Artie Green and covering the role of Joe Gillis.
Les Misérables was his West End debut; he played Feuilly and understudied the roles of Marius and Enjolras.
After this, in 2003, Karimloo took one of the lead roles, Raoul (Vicomte de Chagny), in The Phantom of the Opera. His final matinee performance was filmed for use on a behind-the-scenes feature on the DVD of Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera, a film in which he also appeared, in a cameo role as Gustave Daaé, Christine's violinist father whom Christine believes has sent her an Angel of Music from the heavens after his death.
During the same period, Karimloo also appeared in two concerts of Les Misérables (as Marius), and one of Jesus Christ Superstar (as Simon Zealotes, and a featured singer in "Superstar"), as well as being involved in several theatre workshops.
In 2004, Karimloo went back to Les Misérables, this time taking on the role of Enjolras. In the December of that year, he appeared in a concert of Les Misérables at Windsor Castle, in honour of the French president Jacques Chirac. Excerpts from this were shown on Easter Sunday 2005, in a behind-the-scenes documentary about Windsor Castle. He also performed as Marius in 2004 at Powderham Castle with Nicholas Pound as Jean Valjean, Fred Johanson as Javert, Rebecca Thornhill as Fantine, Dianne Pilkington as Eponine, Jamie Farr as Cosette, David Bardsley as Enjolras, Tony Timberlake as Thenardier, and Rosie Ashe as Madame Thenardier.
In June 2005, Karimloo joined the UK national tour of Miss Saigon, playing the role of Christopher Scott. He appeared in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera, this time as the Phantom, starting in September 2007. He was the show's 21st anniversary Phantom. He brought a new interpretation to the role and a vitality which was recognized by fans of the show as it earned him a Theatregoers' Choice Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Take Over Role.
Karimloo has also released an EP, Within the Six Square Inch, on which he duets with Hadley Fraser and Sophia Ragavelas, both of whom he had already appeared with in Les Misérables (Marius and Éponine).
In July 2008, he was asked to take part in the Sydmonton Festival and was the first actor to play The Phantom in the workshop presentation of Love Never Dies. It was the first act to the sequel of The Phantom of the Opera. It was confirmed he would play the role alongside Sierra Boggess when the sequel opened in London, England, March 2010. A Broadway production was considered, but never put into action.[1]
In 2008 Karimloo recorded a song, "I Only Wish for You", with Shona Lindsay and Dianne Pilkington, for the CD Songs from the Musicals of Alexander S. Bermange, an album of 20 brand new recordings by 26 West End stars, released in November 2008 on Dress Circle Records.[2]
In 2009 he was asked to take part in the recording of new musical album called Bluebird, by Gareth Peter Dicks. Bluebird is a dramatic WW2 musical, in which he plays the part of US serviceman Ben Breagan. He appeared along with a host of West End stars. The 24-track album was released in four countries in September 2009.[3]
Karimloo's last regular performance in The Phantom of the Opera took place on November 7, 2009. He moved on to playing the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel, Love Never Dies, alongside Sierra Boggess, performing the role until the show closed on 27 August 2011.
On 3 October 2010, Karimloo played the role of Enjolras in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables at The O2 Arena in London.
On October 1 and 2 2011, he played The Phantom for three performances alongside Love Never Dies co-star Sierra Boggess as Christine in the unique 25th anniversary production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall and was streamed live to cinemas across the world. According to an interview in The Stage magazine (May 2011), this would be his last performance behind the mask.
From 29 November 2011 to 3 March 2012, Ramin Karimloo returned to Les Misérables, to play the lead role of Jean Valjean at The Queen's Theatre, London.[4]
Karimloo is also now composing music in his band, Sheytoons, with Hadley Fraser.
Karimloo recently had a cameo appearance in Warwick Davis' Life's Too Short as a Scientologist, directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. This episode aired 8th Dec 2011.
As part of the 25th Anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera, Karimloo performed the title song at The Royal Variety Performance - held in The Lowry, Manchester - on Monday 5th December 2011. Performing alongside Nicole Scherzinger, Karimloo was joined by three other former Phantoms (Simon Bowman, Earl Carpenter and John Owen-Jones). The performance was aired on ITV1 on Wednesday 14th December 2011.[5]
Karimloo can also be found on The Music Box album as a hidden track. The song is from the musical Bluebird by Gareth Peter Dicks and is a short acoustic version of a track from the album of the same name.
He has been cast as the lead in 1066 Productions' UK/Canadian feature film Bad Town, scheduled to shoot in Quebec in 2012.
His new solo album, Ramin, will be released by Sony in March 2012.
[edit] Awards
Karimloo won the Best Actor award for the Broadwayworld.com awards in 2010 for his portrayal of The Phantom in Love Never Dies. He has also been nominated for the Best Actor category for the Viewers' Choice Theatre Awards at Whatsonstage.com in 2011. On 7 February 7 2011, Ramin Karimloo was also nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Love Never Dies received seven nominations.[6]
On the 20 February 2011 Karimloo won the Whatsonstage.com award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Love Never Dies.
[edit] References
- ^ "Lloyd Webber Confirms Boggess And Karimloo For Leading Roles In 'LOVE NEVER DIES'". Broadway World. 2009. http://broadwayworld.com/article/Lloyd_Webber_Confirms_Boggess_And_Karimloo_For_Leading_Roles_In_LOVE_NEVER_DIES_20090703. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ iTunes: Act One: Songs from the Musicals of Alexander S. Bermange
- ^ Gareth Peter Dicks
- ^ Lesmis.com: Ramin Karimloo to star as Jean Valjean
- ^ Rehearsals for the Royal Variety Performance
- ^ BBC News: Love Never Dies Leads Olivier Nominations
[edit] External links
fa:رامین کریملو it:Ramin Karimloo nl:Ramin Karimloo pl:Ramin Karimloo
