ABC New Canaan Scholar, Class of 2010
NYU Tisch School for the Arts, 2014
Host Family: Marianne and Richard Grandin
Acclaimed actor Jelani Alladin has come a long way from his days as an ABC scholar at New Canaan High School. Since graduating from NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts in 2014, Jelani has made a name for himself on both stage and screen – most recently earning a Black Reel Award nomination for his role as Marcus Gaines in the Showtime limited series Fellow Travelers. His list of television credits includes well-known shows such as The Walking Dead: World Beyond, FBI, Law & Order: SVU, and Blue Bloods, and he currently stars in 9-1-1: Nashville. His feature films include Respect, Beneath the Fold, and Tick, Tick… Boom!, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. In addition to voicing audiobooks and commercials, Jelani has also excelled on stage. In his Broadway debut as “Kristoff” in Disney’s Frozen, he earned a Drama Desk nomination for Best Leading Actor and a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance, and he recently returned to the New York stage in the Encores! production of The Wild Party at City Center.