American Theatre Magazine: How Justin David Sullivan Learned Her Craft

It’s hard to believe that & Juliet star Justin David Sullivan didn’t grow up belting out Britney Spears or Katy Perry, as they currently do eight shows a week. But for Sullivan and his two siblings, who were homeschooled, the household soundtrack mostly consisted of Christian pop music (“Kidz Bop: Praise and Worship,” quipped Sullivan, who uses he, she, and they pronouns). Her family was active in her church community, where she first learned to sing. Despite this sheltered start, Sullivan became involved in musical theatre when he enrolled at a public high school. Her first production: Little Shop of Horrors.

“I got bit by the bug and never really looked back,” Sullivan said. “I took every opportunity I could to perform, whether that was talent shows, student assemblies, or whatever. I was singing the national anthem at the basketball games. I just loved it so much.”

Sullivan’s love for the spotlight, though, was at odds with social pressures to hide aspects of their identity as a trans nonbinary queer person. “I knew that I was queer from the moment that I entered this world,” he said. “Having to navigate that my whole life was very hard for me, even as a young kid, and especially going to high school, where you’re constantly forced to be perceived.”

Musical theatre provided her an expressive outlet, even if Broadway aspirations seemed far-fetched at the time, given the limited representation of queer folks and people of color (Sullivan is of Mexican and Korean descent). “I just didn’t see myself reflected in what we were seeing,” they said. “It just seemed so inaccessible for me.”

So did acting training. Sullivan first attended community college for two years and completed his general education requirements, then transferred to UC San Diego, where he earned a BA in Communication and declared an acting minor as a way to take performing arts classes, even though he opted not to complete all the requirements (current in-state tuition there is $18,480). But Sullivan found that their communications classes piqued an interest in social justice and historical movements, as well as providing a practical business mindset that they put to use every day as a working actor. Though she acknowledges that there have been moments when she might have benefited from the rigorous preparation of an acting degree, she doesn’t see her educational choices as a barrier to success.

“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from being where I am and meeting all the people that I get to meet who are my peers on Broadway,” they said, “it’s that there is no linear path to Broadway. There is absolutely no guidebook. We all end up here from different walks of life, from different training, from different backgrounds, different programs.”

His own path to Broadway was indeed circuitous. Though she subsidized her studies with grants and loans, Sullivan worked all through community college and university to support herself, juggling retail jobs, box office gigs, internships, work study opportunities, and finally a position at a marketing agency in Southern California. They listened to cast recordings during shifts and kept a picture of New York City as the background on their computer to keep the dream alive. And he kept auditioning, but casting offices didn’t know how to place a trans nonbinary performer.

“I was constantly being told, ‘You’re incredible, but we’re so sorry, we don’t have anywhere to put you, we don’t know what to do with you,’” they said. “‘You’re too queer, too brown, you don’t fit in the box.’” But Sullivan turned this heartbreak into fuel. “I made it my mission to show up until I was perfect for what they were looking for—to show up and unapologetically be myself and not change myself to try to fit their mold.”

It eventually paid off. In early 2020, she booked a production of Sister Act, which closed down because of COVID. In 2021, they moved to New York and found representation through an agency showcase. In their first meeting, they were asked which shows they could see themself performing in. He immediately answered & Juliet, a pop jukebox musical headed to Broadway from the West End.

“There was a role in that show that was so perfect for me, and I absolutely needed to be seen for it,” she said. “It was just perfect. I love pop music, and I knew that this character just resonated so deeply with me and my own experiences and struggles.”

It took six months of his agents submitting and lobbying, and one in-person callback, but eventually, in fall 2022, Sullivan made his Broadway debut in the role of May in & Juliet. They have since received plenty of acclaim and attention in the role, but before last year’s Tony Awards they made a historic, and heroic, decision about how they would be perceived: They opted to abstain from consideration for a Tony nomination rather than compete in either gendered acting category.

“I think for so many people, especially young people, who are looking up to these big Broadway stars, wanting to emulate them, and wanting to be just like them,” Sullivan said, “the most powerful, the most special, the most important thing that you can be is yourself all the way through to the bone.”