Sebastian Arcelus

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Sebastian Arcelus
Sebastian Arcelus 2014.jpg
Arcelus in May 2014
Born
Sebastian Carlos Arcelus

(1976-11-05) November 5, 1976 (age 44)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma materWilliams College
OccupationActor
Years active2000–present
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2007)​
Children1
RelativesPrincess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (grandmother)
Websitewww.sebastianarcelus.com Edit this at Wikidata

Sebastian Carlos Arcelus (born November 5, 1976) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Lucas Goodwin in the Netflix TV series House of Cards (2013–2016) and Jay Whitman in the CBS TV series Madam Secretary (2014–2019). Arcelus began his acting career in the early 2000s and spent the first decade of his career on Broadway, having played Roger in Rent, Fiyero in Wicked, Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys, and Buddy in Elf, among other roles.

Early life and background[]

Arcelus was born in New York City, New York, the son of Nobile Fiammetta Farace di Villaforesta (b. Budapest, Hungary, February 19, 1940) and Victor Carlos Arcelus.[1] He is a first generation American, and is of Uruguayan descent on his father's side and of Italian, Russian, Serbian and German descent on his mother's.[2] He is bilingual in Spanish and English.[2]

Arcelus grew up in Port Washington on Long Island, New York.[2] He attended Williams College and graduated in 1999 with a degree in political science.

Royal ancestry[]

Arcelus' maternal grandparents were Ruggero Farace, Marchese di Villaforesta, and Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia,[3] who was the daughter of Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia and Princess Helen of Serbia, the daughter of King Peter I of Serbia and his wife Princess Zorka of Montenegro. Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia was the last member of the House of Romanov to be born in Russia before the Russian Revolution.

Based on his matrilinear ancestry, Sebastian is direct descendant of Emperors of Russia, King of Serbia and King of Montenegro, and is related to all European royal families. For example, he is fourth cousin twice removed to Queen Elizabeth II and second cousin twice removed to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Through his maternal grandmother, he is also third cousin once removed of American actress Catherine Oxenberg, with whom he shares the same Serbian ancestry. As a descendant of Sophia of Hanover, he is distantly[note 1] in the line of succession to the British throne.[4]

Career[]

2000–2011: Early career and Broadway[]

Arcelus has made a career in theater on Broadway, regionally, and internationally. He began his career in the early 2000s, and spent three years working at an international business firm while auditioning and performing in amateur theater at night.[2] He performed in a handful of small New York theater productions as well as regional productions like that of The Who's Tommy in Newark, New Jersey in 2000 and Big River in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[5][6] He joined the repertory theater company of Weathervane Theatre in Whitefield, New Hampshire for their 2001 season; at Weathervane, he performed in productions including Floyd Collins, Cabaret, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.[7] Following this experience he took part in a bilingual production of West Side Story in Guatemala.[8]

Arcelus made his Broadway debut in 2002 in Rent, first as a swing, covering the male ensemble roles as well as Mark and Roger, and then as Roger throughout the first half of 2003. He remained with Rent as a swing until Fall 2004.

Some of his first professional screen acting roles were for English-language dubs of animated TV shows. He continued to do this throughout the 2000s and voiced characters in shows including Winx Club and multiple series within the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. In 2004, Arcelus appeared in the movie musical Temptation, with Broadway stars Alice Ripley, Adam Pascal, and Zoe Saldana, among many others.[9]

During the Spring of 2005, he starred as Jan in the original cast of the Beach Boys musical, Good Vibrations. He played Fiyero on the first national tour of Wicked from January 3 until October 3, 2006. He then reprised the role of Fiyero in the Broadway production from January 9 to December 16, 2007. Arcelus was featured on iChannel, an interactive 2006 web-series about "a self-conscious young man who finds his life taken over by a video blog."[10]

He starred as Bob Gaudio in the Broadway production of Jersey Boys from January 10, 2008 to January 11, 2009.[11] before starring in Happiness, a musical which ran Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater for fourteen weeks beginning on February 27, 2009.[12] He resumed the role of Bob Gaudio in the Broadway production of Jersey Boys on July 14, 2009 and finished the role on October 10, 2010.[13][14]

He originated the role of Buddy in Elf the Musical for a limited engagement run from November 10, 2010, through January 2, 2011, at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theater.[15]

He assumed the role of Jack Chesney in Where's Charley? in a concert production as part of New York City Center's Encores! series from March 17–20, 2011.[16] From May 6 through June 19, 2011, took part in the original stage production of A Time to Kill, premiering at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., based on the John Grisham novel of the same name; Arcelus originated the role of Jake Brigance.[17] Later that summer, Arcelus filmed and helped produce the independent feature film The Last Day of August, which premiered in October 2012.[18] In November 2011, Arcelus starred in an off-Broadway limited engagement musical production of The Blue Flower at Second Stage, along with Marc Kudisch and Teal Wicks.[19]

Arcelus in 2008

2012–present: Madam Secretary and other television roles[]

In 2012, Arcelus starred in the independent film The Last Day of August. Later that year, he was cast as Lucas Goodwin in the Netflix TV series House of Cards.[20] From 2013 to 2016, he had a recurring role in the show's first, second, and fourth seasons. In 2013, Arcelus reprised his role of Jake Brigance in the Broadway production of A Time To Kill at the Golden Theatre in New York City, which premiered on October 20, 2013.[21]

As part of the collective The Grundleshotz, Arceus co-wrote the musical Gettin' the Band Back Together.[22] Following four years of improvisational rehearsals, the musical debuted regionally in 2013 at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey before receiving a pre-Broadway workshop in 2014. The musical played on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre during Summer 2018.

In early 2014, he was cast in the Cinemax pilot Blanco.[23] Soon after, he also joined the cast The Best of Me, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name.[24]

In 2014, he began portraying Jay Whitman on the CBS drama Madam Secretary.[25] After having a recurring role during the first two seasons of the show, Arcelus became part of the main cast for the final four seasons of the show; he acted in one hundred episodes before the series concluded in December 2019.

Since 2014, Arcelus has also had small roles in the films Ted 2 (2015) and Split (2016), as well as guest roles in shows including The Leftovers, FBI, and Bull. He joined the cast of the Steve McQueen miniseries Codes of Conduct, which was given a limited series order by HBO in 2015.[26][27] The project was ultimately scrapped by the network the following year.[28] In 2016, Arcelus had a six-episode arc in HBO's The Deuce.

Personal life[]

Arcelus married his Wicked co-star Stephanie J. Block on October 16, 2007, with a religious ceremony following on October 25, 2007 in Tuscany. Block played Elphaba in Wicked, both on the national tour and on Broadway.[29][2] Their daughter Vivienne Helena Arcelus was born on January 19, 2015.[30]

Acting credits[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
2012 The Last Day of August Mark Also producer
2014 The Best of Me Frank
2015 Ted 2 Dr. Ed Danzer
2016 Split Mr. Cooke

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Person of Interest Matthews Episode: 1x05 "Judgemet"
2013–14, 2016 House of Cards Lucas Goodwin Recurring (Season 1–2, 4); 17 episodes
2014 Blanco Andy Silver TV pilot
2014 It Could Be Worse Howard 2 episodes
2014 The Leftovers Doug Durst 2 episodes
2014–2019 Madam Secretary Jay Whitman Main cast (Season 1-5); Guest (Season 6); 100 episodes
2015 Codes of Conduct Simon TV pilot
2018 The Deuce Dave Hiller 6 episodes
2019 FBI Drew Harper Episode: 2x02 "The Lives of Others"
2019 Bull Eric Crawford Episode: 4x08 "Safe and Sound"

Voiceover and English-language dubbing[]

Year Title Role Notes
2001–2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! Espa Roba, Rex Raptor 9 episodes
2001 Pokemon: The Legend of Thunder Vincent TV miniseries
2001–2002 Shaman King Yoh Asakura / Zeke Asakura
2002 Seven of Seven Mutsumi
2002–2003 Ultimate Muscle Road Rage / Additional Voices
2003 Samurai Deeper Kyo Hotaru
2004 Gokusen Youichi Minami
2004 Phoenix Adam
2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light Additional voices TV movie
2004 Shrine of the Morning Mist Tadahiro Amatsu
2004 Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys Rafe TV movie
2004–2007 Winx Club (4Kids Entertainment edit) Timmy/Palladium 78 episodes
2005–2010 Go, Diego, Go! Papi/Additional voices 13 episodes
2005–2012 Dora the Explorer Various voices
2007 Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Marcel (Martin Kanou)
2007 Dinosaur King Rex Ancient (Rex Owen)
2008 Man of the People Little G / Miscellaneous
2009 Turtles Forever '87 Raphael TV movie
2012–2015 Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Vetrix
2014 Dora the Explorer: Into the City Various voices

Theater credits[]

Year Title Role Venue Notes
2001 Floyd Collins Homer Collins Weathervane Theatre:
July – August 2001 		Regional revival
2002–2004 Rent Swing
Understudy: Mark, Roger 		Nederlander Theatre:
May 2002 – Dec 2002 		Broadway replacement[31]
Roger Nederlander Theatre:
Dec 2002 – June 2003
Swing
Understudy: Mark, Roger 		Nederlander Theatre:
July 2003– Nov 2004
2004 Caligula Germanicus Theatre at St. Clements:
Sept – Oct 2004 		New York Musical Theatre Festival production
2004–2005 Good Vibrations Jan / Ensemble Eugene O'Neill Theatre:
Nov 2004 – Apr 2005 		Original Broadway cast
2005 The Full Monty Ethan Girard North Shore Music Theatre:
November 2005 		Regional revival
2006–2007 Wicked Fiyero National tour:
Jan – Oct 2006 		National tour replacement
Gershwin Theatre:
Jan – Dec 2007 		Broadway replacement
2008–2010 Jersey Boys Bob Gaudio August Wilson Theatre:
Jan 2008 – Jan 2009 		Broadway replacement
August Wilson Theatre:
Jul 2009 – Oct 2010
2009 Happiness Zach Newhouse Theater:
Feb – Jun 2009 		Original Off-Broadway cast
2011 Where's Charley? Jack Chesney New York City Center:
March 2011 		Encores! Off-Broadway revival
2011–2013 A Time to Kill Jake Brigance Arena Stage:
May – June 2011 		Original Washington D.C. cast
John Golden Theatre:
Oct – Nov 2013 		Original Broadway cast
2010–2011 Elf Buddy Al Hirschfeld Theatre:
Nov 2010 – Jan 2011 		Original Broadway cast
2011 The Blue Flower Franz Second Stage Theater:
Oct – Nov 2011 		Original Off-Broadway cast

Ancestors[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Person Page". thepeerage.com. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Jersey Boy Sebastian Arcelus Find Success (and Love) in Musicals". Broadway.com. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  3. ^ Willis, Daniel A. "Smashwords – Romanovs in the 21st Century - A book by Daniel A. Willis - page 38". smashwords.com. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  4. ^ "Persons eligible to succeed to the British Throne as of 1 Jan 2011". Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  5. ^ "Tommy". Jeffrey Finn Productions. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  6. ^ "JBB EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Sebastian Arcelus Part One! · Jersey Boys Blog". Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  7. ^ "52 Seasons of Shows" (PDF). Weathervane Theatre. 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  8. ^ Sokol, Rachel. "Broadway Spotlight on...Sebastian Arcelus". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  9. ^ "Sebastian Arcelus". IMDb. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  10. ^ "View I Channel here". Connectwithi.com. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  11. ^ "Andrew Rannells is the New Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys Starting January 13". Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  12. ^ "Gleason, Arcelus, Powers and Sapp Cast in Lincoln Center Theater's Happiness". Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  13. ^ "Sebastian Arcelus Returns to Jersey Boys July 14". Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  14. ^ "Sebastian Arcelus Plays Final Performance in Broadway's Jersey Boys Oct. 10". Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ Where's Charley? at New York City Center "Encores!" Nycitycenter.org
  17. ^ "A Time To Kill at Arena Stage in Washington, DC". Broadway.com. April 14, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  18. ^ "NYC Release! - The Last Day of August". thelastdayofaugustfilm.com. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  19. ^ Sebastian Arcelus, Marc Kudisch, Graham Rowat, Teal Wicks Will Help Blue Flower Grow at Second Stage, Playbill, September 8, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  20. ^ Patten, Dominic (July 18, 2012). "Netflix's 'House of Cards' Adds Broadway's Sebastian Arcelus To Cast". Deadline. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  21. ^ "A Time to Kill Stars Sebastian Arcelus, Patrick Page & More Hold Court on a Star-Studded Opening Night". Broadway.com. October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
  22. ^ "Gettin' the Band Back Together Broadway @ Belasco Theatre - Tickets and Discounts". Playbill. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  23. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (February 4, 2014). "Franka Potente, Amaury Nolasco & Elizabeth Rodriguez Cast In Cinemax Pilot 'Blanco'". Deadline. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  24. ^ "'The Best Of Me' Adds 'House Of Cards' Sebastian Arcelus & Gerald McRaney". Deadline. March 12, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  25. ^ "STAGE TUBE: First Look at Patina Miller, Bebe Neuwirth & Sebastian Arcelus in CBS' Political Drama MADAM SECRETARY". Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  26. ^ SkywordNews. "Paul Dano Cast in HBO Event Series 'Codes of Conduct'". STACK. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  27. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 20, 2015). "Steve McQueen's HBO Drama 'Codes Of Conduct' Picked Up As Limited Series". Deadline. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  28. ^ "Steve McQueen HBO Drama Codes of Conduct Shut Down". /Film. February 24, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  29. ^ "DIVA TALK: Chatting with Wicked's Stephanie J. Block Plus News of Mason and Kuhn". playbill.com. December 14, 2007. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  30. ^ Andrew Gans (August 4, 2014). "Twitter Watch: Congrats! Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus Are Expecting Their First Baby!". broadwayworld.com. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  31. ^ "Sebastian Arcelus Replaces Justin Guarini in Good Vibrations". Broadway.com. Retrieved September 9, 2020.

Notes[]

  1. ^ On January 1, 2011, Arcelus was 3917th in the Order of Succession; his position has certainly changed since that date, with births and deaths of those senior to him in line.

External links[]

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