John Howard Gallagher, Jr. (born June 17, 1984) is an American Tony Award winning actor, singer, and musician perhaps best known for originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's hit rock musical Spring Awakening. Gallagher was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware with his older two sisters. Both of his parents were musicians and he eventually went on to play guitar for numerous bands, including Not Now Murray, What Now, Annie's Autograph, and Old Springs Pike. He played the Tom Sawyer as a child actor at the Delaware Children's Theatre. Gallagher has appeared in three plays by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. He originated the role of Jeff in Abaire's hit play Kimberly Akimbo, appeared in the illfated United Kingdom production of Fuddy Meers, and he received critical acclaim for his role in Rabbit Hole. Rabbit Hole was his Broadway debut. He also appeared in the Manhattan Theatre Club Production of the David Marshall Grant play Current Events. He originated the role of Moritz Stiefel as in Spring Awakening, which opened on Broadway on December 10, 2006, which won him the 2007 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. He previously played Moritz in the Off-Broadway production and the Lincoln Center workshops. On December 16th, 2007, he left Spring Awakening. The role was eventually taken over by Blake Bashoff. He has appeared in such television programs as The West Wing, Law & Order: SVU, NYPD Blue, Ed, Love Monkey, and Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Flamingo Rising. Film credits include Pieces of April, Woody Allen's "Whatever Works," the upcoming Jonah Hex, and Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret. He was most recently, and throughout his Spring Awakening run, in the band, Old Springs Pike. On January 23, 2008, his fellow band members announced his departure. The next day, Gallagher made an official announcement confirming his departure on his MySpace page. Old Springs Pike later officially changed their name to The Spring Standards. Gallagher starred in productions of the plays Port Authority, by Conor McPherson and Farragut North by Beau Willimon. Both plays were productions of the Atlantic Theater Company, the same theater that premiered Spring Awakening. He is now involved in the show American Idiot a musical based on the Green Day albums 21st Century Breakdown and American Idiot as well as a couple of their older songs, along with Spring Awakening cast members Brian Charles Johnson and Gerard Canonico. American Idiot premiered in Berkeley, California at the Berkeley Repertory Theater on September 4, 2009. The show's run ended on November 15, 2009 with the plan of transferring to Broadway. Gallagher is currently plying the role of Johnny in the Broadway production of American Idiot which began previews March 24th, 2010 and officially opened on April 20th, 2010 at the St. James Theater in New York City. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.