Davis Gaines
American actor and singer
title: "Davis Gaines" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1959-births", "living-people", "american-male-stage-actors", "american-male-musical-theatre-actors", "american-operatic-tenors", "male-actors-from-orlando,-florida", "edgewater-high-school-alumni", "singers-from-florida", "classical-musicians-from-florida"] description: "American actor and singer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Gaines" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American actor and singer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Davis Gaines |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| known_for | The Phantom of the Opera |
| occupation | Singer, actor |
| years_active | 1979-present |
| :: |
| name = Davis Gaines | birth_date = | birth_place = Orlando, Florida, U.S. | known_for = The Phantom of the Opera | occupation = Singer, actor | years_active = 1979-present
Davis Gaines (born January 21, 1954, Orlando, Florida) is an American stage actor and baritone. He has performed as The Phantom in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera over 2,000 times, on Broadway, on tour, in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco. (He had previously played Raoul in the Broadway production.) He won the Bay Area Critics' Award for Best Actor. He performed the role for a Phantom segment for the Kennedy Center Honors in 1994.
He originated the lead role of The Man in Whistle Down the Wind (1996). Gaines was also the singing voice of Chamberlain in The Swan Princess (1994). He guested in "Murder in White", a 1993 episode of Murder, She Wrote. He was also a musical guest star for Broadway on Ice, a touring ice show with live music. Gaines played the role of Anthony Hope in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in concert, alongside George Hearn as Todd, Patti LuPone as Lovett, Timothy Nolen as Turpin, and Neil Patrick Harris as Tobias. He has since reprised the role of Anthony in numerous productions. He also played the Old Confederate Soldier and Judge Roan in Parade at the Lincoln Center in 2015.
He's also known for his performances in regional productions of Les Misérables, Parade, Damn Yankees, and Hello, Dolly!. He received an Ovation Award for his performance in the role of Don Quixote / Miguel de Cervantes in Man of La Mancha. He was also in the original Off-Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins as an understudy for the roles of the Balladeer and Charles Guiteau. In 2000, he was in a concert version of The Frogs opposite Nathan Lane and Brian Stokes Mitchell at the Library of Congress.
One of his first jobs was as a costumed character at Walt Disney World theme park; as a high school student, he played Pinocchio character J. Worthington Foulfellow.
Stage credits
Sources: ::data[format=table]
Filmography
Film
::data[format=table title=""]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Warlock: The Armageddon | Nathan Sinclair | |
| 1994 | The Swan Princess | Sir Chamberlain (singing voice) | Voice |
| 1998 | Cab to Canada | Maitre D' | TV movie |
| The Swan Princess: Sing Along | Sir Chamberlain | Short | |
| Voice | |||
| 2001 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert | Anthony Hope | TV movie |
| :: |
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Bold and the Beautiful | Stuart Maxwell | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Bodies of Evidence | Peter Marx | 2 episodes |
| Murder, She Wrote | Peter Drew | 1 episode | |
| 1995 | Guiding Light | Doctor | 1 episode |
| 1998 | Chicago Hope | Rolf Cabot | |
| 2005 | Charmed | Walter Nance | 1 episode |
| 2009 | Desperate Housewives | Accountant | |
| :: |
Awards and nominations
- 2012: Won the award for Lead Actor in a Musical for his role as Cervantes/Quixote in the Musical Theatre West production of Man of La Mancha
References
References
- [https://www.abouttheartists.com/artists/282075-davis-gaines Davis Gaines AboutTheArtists]
- Palm, Matthew J.. (28 April 2011). "Edgewater High School honors Davis Gaines". Orlando Sentinel.
- Slate, Libby. (17 March 1993). "Music of a New Night : With Ahmanson's 'Phantom' behind him, Davis Gaines is looking forward to his next project, his very own concert.". Los Angeles Times.
- [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/davis-gaines-82740#broadway IBDB]
- (13 November 2012). "Center Theatre Group Tops 2012 Ovation Awards.".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::