Jefferson Mays

Jefferson Mays born Lewis Jefferson Mays June 8 1965 is an American film stage and television actor Mays was raised in Clinton Connecticut with his parents a naval intelligence officer and a childrens librarian and his siblings Mays graduated from Yale College where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree and the University of California San Diego where he earned a Master of Fine Arts Mays appeared on Broadway in I Am My Own Wife a Pulitzer Prizewinning play by Doug Wright from November 2003 previews to October 31 2004 He had appeared in the play OffBroadway at Playwrights Horizons in May 2003 and at the La Jolla Playhouse in July 2001 Mays won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding OnePerson Show an Obie Award and a 2004 Theatre World Award for his solo performance He also won the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play for seasons of I Am My Own Wife in Australia in 2006 In 2007 he appeared as Henry Higgins in a revival of Pygmalion and starred as Private Mason in a revival of Journeys End In August 2009 Mays appeared at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Quartermaines Terms by Simon Grey Mays starred in the 2013 Broadway musical A Gentlemans Guide to Love and Murder in which he played eight roles He won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical He also was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and tied for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical with Neil Patrick Harris