Mike Faist

Faist began his theatre career in 2011, starring as the original Morris Delancey, a bully and publisher Joseph Pulitzer's henchman, in the regional premiere of Newsies. In addition to the role as Delancey and as the heroic underdog "a citizen of New York", he understudied the lead role of Jack Kelly, a newsboy who leads his colleagues in a strike against the publisher, in the musical's Broadway transfer from 2012 to 2013. In between scenes as Delancey he played the citizen, and had to alternately play the roles in quick succession during the opening number. "You have to really make sure you're warmed up vocally and physically and you're mentally prepared," Faist said of the demands of his dual role but adds, "It's not hard to have fun in Newsies, about the uprising of children, a new generation coming in to take over the old."[2]

He went on to star as Rhys Thurston in Appropriate Off-Broadway in 2014, and as tutor Aleksei Belyaev opposite Peter Dinklage in A Month in the Country Off-Broadway in February 2015.[9]

In August 2015, he originated the role of Connor Murphy in the original Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen, earning him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical in 2017.[10][11] The cast also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album and the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program for their performance of "You Will Be Found" on The Today Show.[12][13] "In order to formulate who Connor would be, I read stories by real survivors on a website, livethroughthis.org. I realized that there seems to be a general lack of self-love and empathy in our society. I hope that when people see the show, they'll say, 'Oh, I am loved. I'm exactly who I am, and I am enough," Faist said after three years in the role.[7][14] His interview with Live Through This founder Dese'Rae L. Stage, who inspired his performance, is featured on Time magazine.[15] Along with cast members Ben Levi Ross and Mallory Bechtel, Faist lent his voice for the audiobook version of Val Emmich's Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, a book adaptation of the musical released in October 2018.[16]

In October 2017, he taught Improv and acting exercises in a Broadway Musical Theatre Workshop and also held a Master Class for audition technique and song interpretation.[17] He taught the same class in Montreal in November.[3] In 2018, he starred in the Second Stage Theater production of Days of Rage as Spence, a conflicted and passionate young man torn between causes and women.[18]

Faist made his film debut as Tony in the coming-of-age drama The Unspeakable Act (2012) which premiered to favorable reviews. In 2015, he appeared as Skip in the short film Yellow, a psychiatric ward patient in Touched with Fire, and Gordie Joiner in The Grief of Others which received critical and generally positive reviews.[19] He was also cast in an unaired pilot of the series Eye Candy as Olsen. He continued to feature in independent films the likes of Our Time (2016) as Benny, I Can I Will I Did (2017) in the starring role of Ben, and Active Adults (2017) as a teenage boy.[4][20] He also appeared in crime procedural dramas Law & Order Special Victims Unit in a 2017 episode as Glenn Lawrence, and Deception (2018) in an episode as Ben "Mekka" Evans. In 2018, he appeared opposite Liv Tyler as Lawrence Fuller, a bully killed in the horror-fantasy film Wildling. In 2020, he played a starring role as Arthur in The Atlantic City Story.[21]

He played his first main role in a television series as Dodge Mason in Amazon's teen drama thriller Panic (2021).[22] The New York Times described him as tall and lanky, making quite a striking figure in the series, "With a slender charisma and a bone structure that seems to have been sculpted with a scythe, the actor could easily have embarked on Panic. But his sensitivity is closer to that of leading men as atypical as Adam Driver, and he modernizes a potentially versatile piece."[23]

Faist made his first major movie role in Steven Spielberg's 2021 film adaptation of West Side Story as Riff, Tony's bestfriend and leader of the Jets gang.[24] The film was a critical success with some critics finding it superior to the 1961 film.[25] His performance earned praise from both audience and critics. The Washington Post regards his magnetic performance as West Side Story's "stand-out" as its chief film critic Ann Hornaday calls Faist a "revelation … who is not only a gifted singer and dancer, but plays Jets gang leader Riff with just the right mix of spiky resentment, hair-trigger anger and loose-limbed grace". On his collaboration with Faist, the film's screenwriter Tony Kushner says, "He really wants to think about economics, politics, psychology, and psychotechnology, and he feeds himself with a kind of acuity and precision that I think is the mark of a great actor."[26] For Faist, "shooting the film was a joyous experience", and in Kushner's term, made them feel like stewards. "There’s no better feeling in the world than being a part of something that's bigger than yourself," the actor said.[27]