25 Facts About Joel Grey

Joel Grey was born on Joel David Katz; April 11,1932 and is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theatre director.

Joel Grey is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical Cabaret on Broadway as well as in the 1972 film adaptation.

Joel Grey has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

Joel Grey starred as Moonface Martin and Amos Hart in the Broadway revivals of Anything Goes and Chicago, respectively.

Joel Grey attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California.

Joel Grey started his career, at age 10, in the Cleveland Play House's Curtain Pullers children's theatre program in the early 1940s, appearing in productions such as Grandmother Slyboots, Jack of Tarts and a lead role in their mainstage production of On Borrowed Time.

Joel Grey changed his last name from Katz to Grey early in his career due to the stigma associated with having a surname with an obvious ethnicity attached.

Joel Grey originated the role of the Master of Ceremonies in the Broadway musical Cabaret in 1966 for which he won a Tony Award.

Joel Grey won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in March 1973 for his performance as the Master of Ceremonies in the 1972 film version of Cabaret.

Joel Grey's victory was part of a Cabaret near-sweep, which saw Liza Minnelli win Best Actress and Bob Fosse win Best Director, although it lost the Best Picture Oscar to The Godfather.

At the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Joel Grey played the title role in their production of Platonov.

Joel Grey was the guest star for the fifth episode of The Muppet Show in its first season in 1976, singing "Razzle Dazzle" from Chicago and "Willkommen" from Cabaret.

Joel Grey played Master of Sinanju Chiun, Remo's elderly Korean martial arts master in the movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, a role that garnered him a Saturn Award and a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

That same year, Joel Grey appeared in the American Repertory Theatre's production of When We Dead Awaken at the Sao Paulo Biennale.

In 2000, Joel Grey played Oldrich Novy in the film Dancer in the Dark and had recurring television roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oz and Alias.

Joel Grey originated the role of the Wizard of Oz in the hit Broadway musical Wicked.

Joel Grey appeared as Izzie's high school teacher who needs treatment for dementia in Grey's Anatomy.

Joel Grey returned to Broadway in spring 2011 as Moonface Martin in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Anything Goes at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

Joel Grey played Ned in the 1985 Off-Broadway production of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, and went on to co-direct the Tony Award-winning revival in 2011.

In 2018, Joel Grey directed a Yiddish-language production of Fiddler on the Roof, which originated at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, then transferred to Stage 42 Off-Broadway.

In 1958, Joel Grey married Jo Wilder; they divorced in 1982.

Joel Grey is a photographer; his first book of photographs, Pictures I Had to Take, was published in 2003; its follow-up, Looking Hard at Unexpected Things, was published in 2006.

Joel Grey won the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on December 5,2016, presented by the York Theatre Company in New York City.

Joel Grey was honored as The New Jewish Home's Eight Over Eighty Gala 2015 honoree.

Joel Grey was presented with the Teddy Kollek Award by the World Jewish Congress in November 2019.