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Education Nathan Hale Middle School, Norwalk High School, University of Connecticut Nominations Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical Similar Colman Domingo, Susan Stroman, Fred Ebb, John Kander, Brandon Victor Dixon | ||
Forrest mcclendon springboardnyc s cues from tony nominees 2011
Forrest McClendon (born in Norwalk, Connecticut) is an American stage actor, singer and professor. McClendon received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical nomination in 2011 for his portrayal of Mr. Tambo in the Broadway musical, The Scottsboro Boys. The Scottsboro Boys had marked McClendon's Broadway debut.
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Biography
McClendon was born and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut. He was raised in the Roodner Court public housing project in South Norwalk. His mother, Ruthie Mae Brown, still resides in Norwalk. He attended Nathan Hale Middle School and graduated from Norwalk High School in 1983. McClendon received his first formal singing lessons from Lewis Cisto, a teacher in the Norwalk High School music department. He also received lessons from Betty Jones, a Connecticut opera singer, and Cassandra Eaton, the music minister of Grace Baptist Church in Norwalk.
He initially studied engineering at the University of Connecticut (UC). However, he switched majors to vocal studies, for which he obtained a bachelor's degree.
Career
In 1993, McClendon appeared off-Broadway in Faith Journey. He also appeared as CC White in a 2005 Prince Music Theatre revival of Dreamgirls: The Musical in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He made his Broadway debut as Mr. Tambo in the 2010 musical, The Scottsboro Boys, after appearing in the musical off-Broadway. The role led to McClendon's first Tony Award nomination in May 2011 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
The actor is now in rehearsal for a regional production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Two Rivers Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey.
McClendon is a faculty member at Temple University and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. He is a resident of East Lampeter Township, a suburb of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as of 2011.