Todrick Hall

Early life and education Todrick Hall was born on April 4, 1985, in Plainview, Texas, a farming community in the state's panhandle. He was raised by a single mother until she married when he was a teen, when he gained a brother and stepfather. At age 16, he began performing on weekends at the amusement park Six Flags Over Texas; it was the first time he combined singing and dancing. He also performed on cruises with Royal Caribbean, Holland America Line, and at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Hall has said that his work ethic comes from the lack of opportunities he had in the entertainment industry as a black gay man.

Career

2006–2010: Broadway, YouTube, American Idol When Hall was twenty he auditioned for the Broadway production of The Color Purple with Oprah Winfrey and Fantasia Barrino. Barrino rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality singing competition American Idol, and working with her would inspire Hall to later audition for the show as well. His first video, filmed while still living in Texas, was "a hilarious clip of him singing his order to a McDonald's drive-through speaker (complete with backup singers)". The video has since received over ten million views. He sang a self-composed song mentioning the judges – Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, and guest judge Joe Jonas – to make his case for inclusion in the program. Years later, reflecting on his Idol experiences, Hall said his "fondest memory" was the audition song. All four approved of his participation; he went into Hollywood week and eventually the semi-finals. In the Top 24, he sang Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone", Judge Simon Cowell dismissively told Hall he "wouldn't amount to anything beyond a Broadway actor". Later Hall stated that he regretted hiding his sexuality on the show: he had a girl wait for his post-audition walk outside with his golden ticket.

That same year, Hall was the singer and songwriter for the Virgin America safety video, seen by millions on the now defunct airline.

On October 22, 2014, MTV announced Todrick, a docuseries following Hall, would premiere in 2015. On December 20, 2014, Hall produced and appeared in a commercial for the series and featured other celebrities' holiday wishes. Eight episodes of the docuseries were ordered and aired throughout 2015. The soundtrack for the show was released on October 13, 2015. In October 2015, he was picked as Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month and was featured on NBC's Today, where he performed his single "Wind It Up".

In February 2015, he was featured on VH1's Huge on the Tube series.

2016–2017: Straight Outta Oz, Kinky Boots, and RuPaul's Drag Race Hall performing in a 2017 concert for the Straight Outta Oz tour in Cologne, Germany.

Hall first appeared as a guest judge on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race for an episode which featured a Wizard of Oz-inspired challenge and aired April 11, 2016; they did not know his lifelong passion for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The videos had cameos from Kim Chi, Bob the Drag Queen, Willam Belli, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nicole Scherzinger, Pentatonix, Perez Hilton, and Amber Riley. "Color" ruminates on his first boyfriend, a handsome Londoner, "the first to really know me." They offered the lead in Kinky Boots "without even auditioning, because they felt my story was so similar to that of Lola's", a drag queen cabaret performer. It was accompanied by an expanded deluxe edition that included songs that were featured on the tour but not on the original version of the album. Additionally, the album included an extended version and new video for "Wrong Bitch" featuring Bob the Drag Queen, and a rerecorded version of Todrick's previous single "Low" featuring RuPaul. In August 2017, he had a cameo as a back-up dancer in the music video for Taylor Swift's song, "Look What You Made Me Do"; the two had become friends in 2015, and would collaborate on several projects.

From November 30, 2017, to January 14, 2018, played Billy Flynn in a limited engagement role in Chicago. During his tenure, the show had its best-grossing week in its 21-year Broadway history.

In December he released the documentary film Behind the Curtain about the production behind Straight Outta Oz filmed in conjunction with AwesomenessTV who had released a successful documentary about another gay YouTuber Tyler Oakley. It was screened in select theaters and later released on home video. Later that month he had a guest appearance in the Bob's Burgers Season 8 episode "The Bleakening" as drag queen Miss Triple-Xmas (or Cleavage to Beaver) performing the song "Twinkly Lights". He also released a medley of covers of songs from the Pitch Perfect film series that was featured on the Pitch Perfect 3 Special Edition soundtrack.

2018–2020: Forbidden, Haus Party, The Greatest Dancer, and Quarantine Queen In March 2018 he released his new visual album follow-up to Straight Outta Oz called Forbidden. To promote the album, Hall embarked on Forbidden: The Tour across the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

In May 2019, Hall revealed that he will be releasing a trilogy of extended plays to be released across the next six months. The first EP, Haus Party, Pt. 1, with its first single "Glitter" was released May 16, 2019. The EP also contained the single "Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels", with a remix featuring Ciara. The EPs were supported by the Haus Party World Tour. Part Two was originally planned to be released in July 2019 but was delayed to September 19, 2019. It was supported by the singles "Wig", "Fag", and "Dripeesha" (the latter featuring Tiffany Haddish). Part Three was released in February 2021.

On June 17, 2019, Hall appeared in and co-executive produced the music video for singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's song "You Need to Calm Down". Hall also helped recruit guests for the cameo-filled video. In August 2019 he joined the panel of Dance Captains for the second series of The Greatest Dancer alongside the other Dance Captains Cheryl, Oti Mabuse and Matthew Morrison. From November 2019 to January 2020 Hall will play the lead, Billy Flynn, in the West End version of the musical Chicago.

In February 2020, Hall released a song for Disneyland's new twice daily parade, called "Magic Happens". The album was released on April 29, 2020. In May 2020 Hall signed with CAA Management. On November 26, 2020, Hall released a live album of the Haus Party world tour recorded in Atlanta, alongside a full video recording for free on YouTube.

2021–2022: Femuline and Algorythm On February 12, 2021, Hall released the third volume of the Haus Party trilogy after being delayed sixteen months past its original release date. On June 8, 2021, Hall released his fourth studio album, Femuline, which was preceded by the singles "Boys in the Ocean" and "Rainin' Fellas". The album is inspired by gay pride and features appearances from Chaka Khan, Tyra Banks, Brandy, Nicole Scherzinger and Ts Madison.

In September 2021, Hall and Samsung teamed up for a remix video of his breakthrough single, "Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels," centered around the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 foldable smartphone. The reworked lyrics -- "Flip, Fold, Snap, Clack"—reference the phone's ability to flip up and fold down.

In December 2021, Hall competed in season six of The Masked Singer as "Bull" and finished in second place.

In January 2022, it was announced that Hall would be participating in the third season of Celebrity Big Brother as a contestant. He made it into the final three and then placed runner up for the season.

On June 1, 2022, Hall released his fifth album, Algorhythm, which was preceded by the single, "Dance Forever".

2024-2025: Burlesque and Midnight In 2024 Hall joined the musical Burlesque in the role of Sean. He also wrote some of the new songs for the show, alongside Jess Folley, who starred as Ali Rose. The show opened at the Opera House in Manchester, toured to Glasgow, to return to Manchester. Ahead of its West End transfer in 2025, the show changed its team, with Hall directing and choreographing, as well as reprising the role of Sean.

In October 2025 Hall announced he will premiere his own original musical, Midnight, at the Sadler's Wells East in London, in November of the same year, after a few close-doors performances in New York and London. Hall wrote the music and lyrics for the show, and also directed, choreographed and starred as lead character Rail. He commented “Midnight is an artistic work with a strong sense of social responsibility and cultural depth. It uses artistic means to call on people to cross racial boundaries, learn to understand, tolerate and empathise.”

Personal life Hall announced a relationship with model David Borum via an Instagram post in May 2021.

Filmography +Theatre roles Year Title Role Theatre

2007-2008 The Color Purple Bobby, Harpo (understudy), ensemble Broadway Theatre

2010–2011 Memphis Gator (understudy), ensemble Sam S. Shubert Theatre

Ensemble Hollywood Bowl Seaweed J. Stubbs Los Angeles 2014 Cats Rum Tum Tugger Lubbock The Femuline World Tour (2022)

Awards and recognition 2014, named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list. 2015, Business Insiders list of the "Hottest YouTube Stars Alive". 2016 Streamy Awards, Music Award for Breakthrough Artist, winner. 2019 MTV Video Music Award for collaboration on Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down", winner as executive producer.