Tituss Burgess

Tituss Burgess was born on February 21, 1979, in Athens, Georgia, USA. Burgess pursued his passion for performance by earning a Bachelor of Art degree in music from the University of Georgia. His professional career began at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, where he performed as a vocalist at the Festival of the Lion King at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which enabled him to acquire his Actors Equity card. This early experience in live performance laid the groundwork for his subsequent work in musical theatre.

Burgess made his Broadway debut in 2005 in “Good Vibrations” as Eddie, followed by a role as Hal Miller in “Jersey Boys.” A significant milestone in his stage career was originating the role of Sebastian the Crab in “The Little Mermaid” in 2007, and later playing Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the 2009 revival of “Guys and Dolls.” In television, Burgess is widely recognized for his portrayal of Titus Andromedon in the Netflix comedy series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (2015–2020), a role that garnered him five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He reprised this role in the interactive special “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend” in 2020, earning another Emmy nomination. His film credits include voice roles in “The Angry Birds Movie” (2016) and “The Addams Family” (2019), and appearances in “Dolemite Is My Name” (2019) and “Respect” (2021).

More recently, Burgess has continued to diversify his career. From 2020 to 2022, he voiced Cole Tillerman in the musical animated series “Central Park,” which earned him his sixth Emmy nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in 2021. He also participated in “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” as Remy in 2021 and played Rooster Hannigan in NBC’s “Annie Live!” in 2021. In 2023, he took on the role of Narrator in the second season of “Schmigadoon!” and returned to Broadway for a temporary engagement as Harold Zidler in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”. He is slated to play Mary Todd Lincoln in the Broadway production of “Oh, Mary!” in both March-April 2025 and June-August 2025, further showcasing his range in theatre.