Anthony Rapp

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Anthony Rapp (born 26 October 1971; age 52) is an American stage and film actor who plays Paul Stamets in Star Trek: Discovery.

He is best known as the original Mark Cohen in the musical Rent, and reprised the role in the 2005 film version directed by Chris Columbus, co-starring Sarah Silverman and Joel Swetow. (Wilson Cruz also appeared in the musical Rent, performing in the "Benny Tour," but never performed together with Rapp.)

Rapp noted that he thought Discovery shared "DNA" with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine blended with Star Trek: The Original Series. [1] [2]

Rapp made his acting debut in Adventures in Babysitting (1987, opposite Ron Canada and John Chandler). Rapp followed up with Far from Home (1989, co-starring Matt Frewer and Dick Miller). That year Rapp also appeared in the thriller Grave Secrets, with Trek veteran David Warner. In 1993, Rapp was cast as bigoted college student Richard "McGoo" Collins in School Ties, along with Ed Lauter and Kevin Tighe, as well as Dazed and Confused, with Christine Harnos. The only contemporary film in which Rapp appeared that year was Six Degrees of Separation, with J.J. Abrams, Bruce Davison, and Oz Perkins. Rapp made an appearance in Twister (1996, with Zach Grenier, Richard Lineback, Alan Ruck, and Scott Thomson). Rapp's most recent film work is 2016's Do You Take This Man, with Sam Anderson and Thomas Dekker.

In 2000, Rapp played smarmy college student turned attempted cult leader Jacob in Road Trip, featuring Andy Dick and Ellen Albertini Dow. 2001 saw Rapp in A Beautiful Mind, with Josh Pais and Christopher Plummer. He was later in Open House (2001, with Original Series guest star Sally Kellerman and Ann Magnuson). In 2006, Rapp reunited with Andy Dick in Danny Roane: First Time Director, written and directed by Dick and costarring Debra Wilson. In 2007, he was in Blackbird alongside Gillian Jacobs.

Rapp's debut on the small screen was in the 1990 telefilm Sky High, co-directed by James Whitmore, Jr. In 1994, Rapp was seen in Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker, with John Glover and Brad Greenquist. Rapp ended the '90s costarring in 1999's Man of the Century, with Frank Gorshin. Following their work in Twister, Rapp and Ruck worked together again in 1997 on Ruck's series Spin City in the first season episode "An Affair to Remember", with John Harrington Bland. In 2000, Rapp was seen in the TV biopic The Beach Boys: An American Family, alongside Jad Mager, David Spielberg, Ned Vaughn, and Clay Wilcox.

Rapp is openly gay and has been out most of his career. His character is also the first openly gay character in the TV series. [3]

In 2001, in an interview with The Advocate magazine, Rapp revealed that in 1986, when he was 14, he was the subject of unwanted sexual advances by a then-unnamed actor. [4] In 2017, galvanized by other actors revealing their experience of sexual harassment in Hollywood, Rapp stated that the actor in question was Kevin Spacey. [5] On 20 October 2022, Kevin Spacey was found not liable for battery against Rapp. Two other charges against Spacey were dismissed prior to the trial. [6]