Actor from Lexington is nominated for a Tony award for lead role in a Broadway musical

Lexington native Colton Ryan has earned a Tony award nomination for the lead role he originated in the Broadway musical “New York, New York.”

Ryan’s nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical was announced Tuesday.

Among those nominated in the same category is Ben Platt, who was nominated for his performance in “Parade” and who worked with Ryan in the film and stage versions “Dear Evan Hansen.” Ryan made his Broadway debut in “Dear Evan Hanson,” where he was an understudy for three characters, including the title role. Platt won a Tony for his performance as Evan Hanson.

Other nominees for the Tony award for lead actor in a musical this year are Josh Groban for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Brian d’Arcy James for “Into the Woods” and both Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee for “Some Like It Hot.”

Ryan is a graduate of the School for the Creative and Performing Arts at Lafayette High School as well as Ohio’s Baldwin Wallace University.

He has appeared in television roles on “The Girl from Plainville,” “Poker Face,” “Little Voice,” “Homeland” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” according to his IMDb profile, and he came back to Lexington to play the lead role of Tony in “West Side Story” with the Lexington Theatre Company in 2019.

“New York, New York” is also nominated for Best Musical, as well as for lighting, choreography, costumes, sound, scenic design, book and orchestrations.