Alex Newell + Hailey Kilgore + Lea Salonga (Once On This Island) - We Dance + Mama Will Provide - Tony Awards - 2018
- há 4 anos
Alex Eugene Newell (born August 20, 1992) is an American actor and singer. He is known for his roles as Unique Adams on the Fox musical series Glee and Mo on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. He also starred as Asaka in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island at the Circle in the Square Theater in 2018.[1] As a singer, Newell has released tracks with Clean Bandit, Blonde, and The KnocksNewell was among 34,000 to submit an audition video in 2011 for the first season of Oxygen's The Glee Project.[7] Newell's self-taped audition earned him over one million MySpace views as well as a spot among the 12 participants who competed for a seven-episode arc on Glee. During the arc, he asserted himself as an out gay man.[9] Eventually, he became the series’ first runner-up.[10] Nevertheless, the producers were so impressed that they decided to bring him on Glee for two episodes.[11] Newell first appeared on Glee in the third season episode "Saturday Night Glee-ver". He was cast in the role of Wade "Unique" Adams, a male-to-female transgender teenager. The shy, outcast Wade expressed her female identity through music as the bold, brave alter ego, Unique. Wade broke ground by being one of the most visible transgender characters on television and one of the first on a network prime time show.[12] Newell's performance was described as "bold",[13] with "remarkable restraint and powerful vocals."[14]
On his nightly show, Bill O'Reilly expressed concern that children watching the show unsupervised might be encouraged to experiment with what he termed "alternative lifestyles," which he said the show glorified.[15] Newell commented, "My mother said, 'If Bill O'Reilly said something about you, you are doing something right.' He just showed the public and conservative viewers me. There are more people seeing me now... There are people like Wade and Unique, and [they're] being themselves. If kids want to go and do that, that is them expressing who they are."[6] He later appeared in two more episodes and completed his story arc that season.
Newell was accepted into the Berklee College of Music for fall 2012, but he decided instead to move to Los Angeles to be on Glee when he was asked to rejoin the cast for the show's fourth season.[6] Unique returned as a Glee recurring cast member in the fourth season premiere, "The New Rachel". Newell, along with the rest of the cast, received a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2012, but lost to Modern Family. For the fifth season, Newell was promoted to main cast because of the character's popularity.[16][17] In the sixth and final season, he was not a part of the regular cast, but he did appear as a recurring guest star. A highlight of the sixth season was Newell singing "I Know Where I've Been" from Hairspray with the Transpersons Choir of 200 performersIn July 2016, Newell has provided backing vocals in his biggest collaboration yet in charitable single
On his nightly show, Bill O'Reilly expressed concern that children watching the show unsupervised might be encouraged to experiment with what he termed "alternative lifestyles," which he said the show glorified.[15] Newell commented, "My mother said, 'If Bill O'Reilly said something about you, you are doing something right.' He just showed the public and conservative viewers me. There are more people seeing me now... There are people like Wade and Unique, and [they're] being themselves. If kids want to go and do that, that is them expressing who they are."[6] He later appeared in two more episodes and completed his story arc that season.
Newell was accepted into the Berklee College of Music for fall 2012, but he decided instead to move to Los Angeles to be on Glee when he was asked to rejoin the cast for the show's fourth season.[6] Unique returned as a Glee recurring cast member in the fourth season premiere, "The New Rachel". Newell, along with the rest of the cast, received a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2012, but lost to Modern Family. For the fifth season, Newell was promoted to main cast because of the character's popularity.[16][17] In the sixth and final season, he was not a part of the regular cast, but he did appear as a recurring guest star. A highlight of the sixth season was Newell singing "I Know Where I've Been" from Hairspray with the Transpersons Choir of 200 performersIn July 2016, Newell has provided backing vocals in his biggest collaboration yet in charitable single