Ethan Slater facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ethan Slater
Slater in 2020
Born	Ethan Samuel Slater (1992-06-02) June 2, 1992 (age 32) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater	Vassar College (BA)
Occupation	Actor singer writer composer
Years active	2012–present
Spouse(s)	Lilly Jay ​ ​ (m. 2018; div. 2024)​
Children	1
Musical career
Genres	Indie rock folk musical theater
Instruments	Vocals guitar

Ethan Samuel Slater (born June 2, 1992) is an American actor, singer, writer, and composer known for his role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the musical of the same name, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won a Drama Desk Award in 2018. During his career he has also acted in musicals directed by Kathleen Marshall, Barry Levinson, John Tartaglia, Bartlett Sher, and John Doyle.

He most recently played the Historian, Prince Herbert, and others in the 2023 Broadway revival of Spamalot at the St. James Theatre. On screen, he appeared in a few guest roles in various television series, before landing his first major film role as Boq in the two-part film adaptation of Wicked (2024-2025).

Early life and career

Ethan Samuel Slater was born on June 2, 1992, in Washington, D.C. He is the third child of Jay Slater, an employee at the Food and Drug Administration. He is Jewish and was raised Conservative, attending Ohr Kodesh in Silver Spring. After attending Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, his family moved to Silver Spring, Maryland. Slater's mother died when he was seven, which he describes as a "really big, formative thing in my life. She had left this huge imprint on me, even though I had so few memories." He graduated from Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC, and studied drama at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. During his time in college, he auditioned to apprentice at a Shakespeare workshop, which then got him an audition in front of director Tina Landau. Slater graduated from Vassar with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama in 2014.

His first theater appearance was at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in July 2015, in which he starred as Luis in the musical Claudio Quest, directed by John Tartaglia, earning a nomination for the festival's award in the category for Best Individual Performance. Between September 30 and October 24, 2015, he starred in Please excuse my dear aunt Sally in the One Year Lease Theater Company. In December 2015 he joined the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, acting in Barry Levinson's play Diner, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. During the same period he appeared in several short films, including Lightning Bugs in a Jar and Evol.

In 2016 Slater was cast in the lead role SpongeBob SquarePants in Kyle Jarrow's musical of the same name directed by Tina Landau at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago. The musical achieved success and was praised by theater critics, bringing the production to Broadway at the Palace Theatre in New York between 2017 and 2018. For his performance, Slater earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical in 2018, winning in the respective category at the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award. He is also awarded the Theatre World Award for Best Performance in a Broadway Debut in 2018.

Between 2018 and 2019 he appeared in a few episodes of television series, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Murphy Brown, Instinct and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. On March 4, 2019, Slater was cast by director Bartlett Sher in the theatrical special of Camelot at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York. Between 2021 and 2022 he starred in the musical Assassins with the direction of John Doyle at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater in New York, playing Lee Harvey Oswald. His performance earned him a Lucille Lortel Awards nomination for Best Performance. From March to April 2022, Slater originated the role of Max Weinbaum in the play Good Night, Oscar at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. From 2023 to 2024, he played the Historian, Prince Herbert, and other roles in the Broadway revival of Spamalot at the St. James Theatre.

In 2022 it was announced that he will play Boq in the two-part film adaptation of the musical Wicked, directed by Jon M. Chu. Slater joined a stellar cast including Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande-Butera as Glinda, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode and Jeff Goldblum. The movies were directed by Jon M. Chu.

Personal life

In 2012, Slater began dating his high school sweetheart Lilly Jay. They married in 2018, and their son was born in 2022. In 2023, Slater filed for divorce from Jay, following reports that he had begun dating Ariana Grande. On September 13, 2024, it was reported that his divorce from Jay had been finalized.

Works

Film

Television

Web

Theatre

Discography

Cast recordings

Solo recordings

Awards and nominations