Ethan Slater

Ethan Slater
Slater in 2024
Born
Ethan Samuel Slater

(1992-06-02) June 2, 1992 (age 32)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma materVassar College (AB)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active2012–present
Spouse
Lilly Jay
​
​
(m. 2018; div. 2024)​
Children1
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Websitewww.ethanslater.com

Ethan Samuel Slater (born June 2, 1992) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the musical of the same name, for which he won a Drama Desk Award and received a Tony Award nomination in 2018. He had his first major film role as Boq in the musical film Wicked (2024).

Early life and education

Ethan Samuel Slater was born on June 2, 1992, in Washington, D.C. He is the third child of Jay Slater, an employee at the Food and Drug Administration.[1][2] He is Jewish and was raised Conservative, attending Ohr Kodesh in Silver Spring.[3] After attending Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, his family moved to Silver Spring, Maryland.[4][5][6] Slater's mother died when he was seven, which he describes as a "really big, formative thing in my life. She had left this huge imprint on me, even though I had so few memories."[7]

Slater graduated from Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, and studied drama at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. During his time in college, he auditioned to apprentice at a Shakespeare workshop, which then got him an audition in front of director Tina Landau.[8] Slater graduated from Vassar with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama in 2014.[9]

Career

Slater's first theater appearance was at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in July 2015, in which he starred as Luis in the musical Claudio Quest, directed by John Tartaglia,[10] earning a nomination for the festival's award in the category for Best Individual Performance.[11] Between September 30 and October 24, 2015, he starred in Please excuse my dear aunt Sally in the One Year Lease Theater Company.[12] In December 2015 he joined the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, acting in Barry Levinson's play Diner, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.[13] During the same period he appeared in several short films, including Lightning Bugs in a Jar and Evol.

In 2016 Slater was cast in the lead role SpongeBob SquarePants in Kyle Jarrow's musical of the same name directed by Tina Landau at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago.[14] The musical achieved success and was praised by theater critics, bringing the production to Broadway at the Palace Theatre in New York between 2017 and 2018.[15][16] For his performance, Slater earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical in 2018, winning in the respective category at the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award. He is also awarded the Theatre World Award for Best Performance in a Broadway Debut in 2018.[17][18]

Between 2018 and 2019 he appeared in a few episodes of television series, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Murphy Brown, Instinct, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. On March 4, 2019, Slater was cast by director Bartlett Sher in the theatrical special of Camelot at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York.[19] Between 2021 and 2022 he starred in the musical Assassins with the direction of John Doyle at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater in New York, playing Lee Harvey Oswald.[20] His performance earned him a Lucille Lortel Awards nomination for Best Performance.[21] From March to April 2022, Slater originated the role of Max Weinbaum in the play Good Night, Oscar at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.[22] From 2023 to 2024, he played the Historian, Prince Herbert, and other roles in the Broadway revival of Spamalot at the St. James Theatre.[23][24][25] He played Boq in the two-part film adaptation of the musical Wicked, directed by Jon M. Chu.[26][27]

Personal life

Slater began dating clinical psychologist Dr. Lilly Jay,[28] his high school sweetheart, in 2012.[29][30] They married in 2018.[31] The couple separated in 2023 following the birth of their child, a boy, the previous year. Slater filed for divorce, and began a relationship with singer Ariana Grande in early 2023, whom he met on the set of Wicked; sparking speculations of infidelity. In September 2024, it was reported that his divorce from Jay had been finalized.[32][33]

Jay, who relocated with Slater and their then two-month old son to the United Kingdom while her husband was filming Wicked, discussed her experiences following their divorce in her essay in The Cut published in December 2024: "No one gets married thinking they’ll get divorced…But I really never thought I would get divorced. Especially not just after giving birth to my first child and especially not in the shadow of my husband’s new relationship with a celebrity. In this season of shock and mourning, over a year after the end of my marriage was made public, I deeply miss the life of invisibility I created for myself as a psychologist specializing in women’s mental health." She adds, "As for me, days with my son are sunny. Days when I can’t escape the promotion of a movie associated with the saddest days of my life are darker. "[34][28]

Works

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2016 Evol: The Theory of Love Ronny [35]
2024 Lost on a Mountain In Maine Henry [36]
2024 Wicked Boq Woodsman [37]
2025 Wicked: For Good Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2018 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Riley Porter Episode: "Revenge"
Murphy Brown Officer Reynolds Episode: "Thanksgiving and Taking"
2019 Fosse/Verdon Joel Grey Episode: "Me and My Baby" [38]
Instinct Noah Episode: "After Hours" [38]
SpongeBob SquarePants Himself Episode: "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout"
The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! SpongeBob SquarePants Television adaptation of The SpongeBob Musical [39]
2023 The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Steven Episode: "Susan"

Web

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2015 Redheads Anonymous Sam [29]
New Mayor of New York Nathan

Theatre

Year Production Role Venue Category Ref.
2015 Diner Modell Delaware Theatre Company Regional [13]
Claudio Quest Luis NYMF [11]
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally Cast One Year Lease Theatre Company (59E59 Theatres) Off-Off-Broadway [40][41]
2016 The SpongeBob Musical SpongeBob SquarePants Oriental Theatre Regional [14]
2017 Baghdaddy Jerry Samuel St. Luke's Theatre Off-Broadway [42]
2017–18 SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical SpongeBob SquarePants Palace Theatre Broadway [43]
2019 Camelot Mordred Lincoln Center Theater [44]
2021–22 Assassins The Balladeer / Lee Harvey Oswald Classic Stage Company Off-Broadway [45]
2022 Good Night, Oscar Max Weinbaum Goodman Theatre Regional [46]
2023-24 Spamalot Prince Herbert / The Historian St. James Theatre Broadway [47]
2024 Edge of the World Ben Lynn F. Angelson Theater Off-Broadway [48]

Discography

Cast recordings

Release Date Title Type Label Ref.
September 22, 2017 SpongeBob SquarePants, The New Musical Original Cast Recording Masterworks Broadway
September 28, 2018 Who's Your Baghdaddy, or How I started the Iraq War Broadway Records
August 6, 2021 Edge of the World Concept Album [49]
March 18, 2022 Assassins 2022 Cast Recording [50]

Solo recordings

Release Date Title Notes Ref.
February 5, 2019 Richmond Rewrites Single [51]
July 11, 2019 Wanderer EP
July 21, 2020 Life Is Weird EP [52]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2015 NYMF Award Outstanding Individual Performance Claudio Quest Nominated [53]
2018 Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical SpongeBob SquarePants Nominated [54]
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical Won [55]
Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical Won [56]
Broadway.com Audience Awards Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Male) Won [57]
Favorite Leading Actor in a Musical Won
Theatre World Award Honoree [58]
2022 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical Assassins Nominated [59]
2024 Astra Film Awards Best Cast Ensemble Wicked Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Acting Ensemble Nominated [60]
Michigan Movie Critics Guild Best Ensemble Nominated [61]
San Diego Film Critics Society Best Ensemble Nominated [62]
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Best Ensemble Nominated [63]
St. Louis Film Critics Association Best Ensemble Nominated [64]
New York Film Critics Online Best Ensemble Nominated [65]
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Ensemble Cast Pending [66]

References

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  2. ^ Jackson, Dory (April 16, 2018). "Ethan Slater Talks About Playing SpongeBob SquarePants on Broadway". Newsweek. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  3. ^ "The happy-go-lucky 25-year-old Jewish guy who plays SpongeBob on Broadway". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  4. ^ Dayanim, Avital (July 21, 2023). "18 Things to Know About Jewish Actor and Singer Ethan Slater". Hey Alma. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  5. ^ Schleier, Curt (July 22, 2023). "The happy-go-lucky 25-year-old Jewish guy who plays SpongeBob on Broadway". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
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  29. ^ a b Deb, Sopan (November 22, 2017). "He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 17, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
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  48. ^ Nick Blaemire and Ethan Slater’s Edge of the World to Have One-Night-Only Concert
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