Randy Harrison mini-bio: Randolph Clarke Harrison (known as Randy Harrison, born November 2, 1977 in Nashua, New Hampshire) is an American actor whose best-known role is that of Justin Taylor in the 2000s television drama Queer as Folk.
Harrison was born in New Hampshire, but moved to Alpharetta, Georgia with his family when he was 11. He attended Pace Academy an elite, conservative private prep school in Atlanta. His father is an executive with a large paper company, his mother a 'thwarted artist', and his brother is a bank manager. He is partnered with celebrity journalist and columnist Simon Dumenco.
A young veteran of the stage, Harrison has acted since the age of seven. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre (2000) from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, where he starred in such productions as Hello Again, Shopping and Fucking, and Children of Eden. He received his start in theatre at Pace Academy in Atlanta, including a turn as the leading role in the school's 1992 production of Peter Pan. While at Pace, he studied acting with George Mengert and voice with Valerie Kennedy.
Harrison soon went on to perform in other theatrical venues across the U.S., playing in productions such as Violet at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, 1776 at the St. Louis Municipal Theatre and West Side Story at the Forestburg Playhouse, as well as productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Real Inspector Hound and A Cheever Evening.
Harrison, a gay man, made his television debut playing Justin Taylor, a gay teen, in 2000's American version of Queer as Folk, the British television series. Harrison's character comes out, pursues an intergenerational relationship, faces homophobia, and recovers from a hate crime.
In 2002, Harrison was cast as "Sean" in a made-for-television movie entitled Bang, Bang, You're Dead, which is based on the play of the same name. In the summer of 2004, Harrison performed on Broadway as "Boq" in the musical Wicked. In July 2005, Harrison returned to theatrical acting as Alan Strang, the lead character in Equus at the Berkshire Theater Festival. He was cast in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, presented by SITI Company in Spring of 2006 and returned to the Berkshire Theater Festival mainstage in July 2006's Amadeus. He joins the cast of The Glass Menagerie this winter as 'Young Tom' at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. In July 2007, Harrison returned to the Berkshire Theater Festival, taking the role of "Billy Bibbit" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and in August he will star in Mrs. Warren's Profession as "Frank Gardner".
