Matthew Stocke with the Robe. Photo by Michael Kushner.
“This was truly a high point in my incredibly fortunate and humbling career. I never dreamed about being a ‘star’ on Broadway, but I was determined to be a part of the community, just to make a living as a Broadway performer. This honor is, for me, the symbolic culmination of having done just that, creating and sustaining a career at this level. To put it another way, I guess I've stuck around...and knowing so many of the other folks who have worn the Robe, I couldn't be more humbled or proud.”
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA (a city that has produced so many folks in this business!)
First Broadway Credit: Titanic, 1998 (Still the most insanely talented and incredibly welcoming group of professional actors I've ever been a part of. Look up the original cast; it's legendary. To this day I can't believe my good fortune to have made my debut with that group of beautiful people.)
Professional Training: I am a very proud Tartan...Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, 1995 (fellow graduates that year and still dear friends: Patrick Wilson and Christian Borle).
Year Joined Actors’ Equity: 1995
How I Got My Equity Card: I replaced my friend Danny Gurwin in the Westchester Broadway Theatre production of Guys and Dolls in the fall of 1995, two months after moving to New York City.
Number of Broadway Chorus Contract Credits: 7 – Titanic, The Full Monty, The Boy From Oz, The Wedding Singer, Rock of Ages, The Last Ship and Pretty Woman
Fun Fact: I started performing late, at 19 years old, because I was a lifelong baseball player. My first college was Mount Saint Mary's University in Maryland, where I was a pitcher on scholarship. While there, I was cast in a play as part of an "Intro to Theatre" class. It was True West, and I played Lee. Life took a pretty gigantic turn after that. I never played Major League Baseball, but I've been incredibly proud to have been working for the past twenty years in the major leagues of theatre!
Matthew Stocke celebrates the Legacy Robe with his castmates. Photo by Michael Kushner.
Co-stars Orfeh (left) and Andy Karl flank Matthew Stocke in his Legacy Robe. Photo by Michael Kushner.
