By 
- Actor and singer Jonathan Groff plays King George in the Hamilton movie now streaming on Disney+.
- Groff's movie, TV, and stage resume includes much more than his (spit-heavy) Hamilton role.
- The 35-year-old Broadway vet is also known as the voice of Kristoff in the Frozen movies.
For most people who watched the Hamilton movie on Disney+, it was their first time experiencing the original Broadway cast's production onscreen aside from their 2016 Grammy and Tony performances. When the show reached living rooms across the country, many of its stars earned new fans, from Schuyler sister actresses Renée Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo to Aaron Burr actor Leslie Odom, Jr. As social media lit up with reactions during Hamilton's premiere weekend, many were about Jonathan Groff, the actor who plays King George.
One particular moment that got fans talking was when Groff sings the glam rock-tinged song, "You'll Be Back." You can see his spit as he delivers a shot of crisp, British-style humor, namely during the line, "And NO, don't change the subject!" Fans were surprised by just how much Groff was spitting, but the truth is that it only adds to King George's quietly unhinged mood. Groff was committed to the role, and according to a tweet from Hamilton's music director Alex Lacamoire, he would occasionally feel spittle while Groff played King George on Broadway, too. "And you know what? Worth it," he said.
But Groff is so much more than a few moments of generously-issued spittle. And while you've likely seen him in movies and TV shows such as Glee before, Disney fans have also definitely heard his work in the Frozen series. Here's everything you need to know to become a huge fan of the Broadway vet.
Jonathan Groff first rose to fame on Broadway.
The actor originated the role of Melchior Gabor in Duncan Sheik's rock musical Spring Awakening in 2005, starring alongside actress and real-life best friend Lea Michele. When the show headed to Broadway he earned his first Tony award nomination, for Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Musical, in 2007. He performed with his costars in the Tonys telecast that same year.
Groff appeared on and off Broadway for the next ten years, all the while racking up film and television credits. In 2015, he joined the cast of Hamilton, then off-Broadway at the Public Theater, in 2015, replacing actor Brian d'Arcy James as King George. He was nominated for another Tony in 2016, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical—and lost to Hamilton cast mate Daveed Diggs, who played the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson.
Groff left Hamilton in April 2016 to start filming the Netflix series Mindhunter (more on that below).
Groff voices Kristoff in the Frozen movies.
If you are a parent to a young child, you've likely heard Groff's dulcet tones...on repeat. He plays Kristoff, the iceman who falls in love with Anna (Kristen Bell) in the two Frozen films and its offshoots since the Disney franchise's debut in 2013.
His TV show credits include Glee, Looking, and Mindhunter.
Groff's TV career began with a recurring role on One Life to Live in 2007. He also guested as Jesse St. James on Ryan Murphy's Glee throughout the show's six seasons, once again playing a love interest opposite Lea Michele.
On HBO's Looking, Groff played lead character Patrick Murray, a gay video game developer living in San Francisco. The critically-acclaimed cult hit only lasted for two seasons from 2014-2015, but it got a feature-length wrap up as a finale (and the show is worth a watch).
More recently, Groff starred in the Netflix series Mindhunter, playing an FBI agent named Holden Ford who is part of a team that interviews serial killers in order to gain insight into what motivates dark criminal behavior. Sadly, there are no current plans for a Mindhunter season 3.
Groff may or may not be dating a choreographer.
Though the openly gay actor keeps private, he has been linked to Corey Baker, a choreographer from New Zealand, since the two started dating in 2018. Groff previously dated Star Trek's Zach Quinto from 2010-2013, and he was with actor Gavin Creel when he first came out at 23. Groff described that process in a 2014 Playbill interview:
...When I was in Spring Awakening, I wasn't out to anyone in my life. I was completely 100-percent closeted, except for my roommate at the time, who was my "roommate" in quotations — my boyfriend-roommate… We lived together for years, and when I was in Spring Awakening, I never, ever talked about it, and everybody was so sweet. All of my castmates were so respectful and must have just intuited that I didn't want to talk about it because no one ever grilled me or asked me. They just knew I wasn't ready, which was so generous, and I appreciate them for that — letting me come to it on my own and have my own journey with that. And, it's interesting… When I was closeted, I never realized how shut down I was until I came out.
He's not on social media.
Groff is absent from Twitter and Instagram, telling Collider "it’s just not my jam."
"I feel like in order for it to be great, and positive, and productive, you have to really want to invest in it, and I hate how much I look at my phone already with text messaging, and so I just didn’t want to add another element to that," he continued—and insisted he doesn't even have an anonymous "ghost" account to lurk. We don't know how he does it, either.
He'll be in the upcoming Matrix 4 sequel.
Not much is known about his role in the movie, but Groff, Priyanka Chopra and Neil Patrick Harris join the returning stars of the original movies: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Lana Wachowski back to direct. Do you think there's any way he'll end up singing?
For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter.
Samantha Vincenty is the former senior staff writer at Oprah Daily.
