Ryan McCartan

McCartan was born Ryan Jerome McCartan on June 14, 1993, in Excelsior, Minnesota^[2] and graduated from Minnetonka High School in 2011 where he had been part of the Minnetonka Theatre.^[4] His father, Conn McCartan, was the principal at Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota until his retirement in June 2023.^[5][6]

McCartan began his career with a minor part in the stage version of Disney's High School Musical in 2007.^[7] In 2011 he starred in the titular role in Minnesota's first regional production of The Phantom of the Opera.^[8] That same year, he won Best Performance by an Actor at the Jimmy Awards, given out by The Broadway League to the top performers in high school musical productions.^[9]

McCartan originated the role of Jason Dean in the original Off-Broadway cast of the musical Heathers, which ran from March through August 2014. He previously played the role in the 2013 world premiere of the musical in Los Angeles.

In July 2013, McCartan began playing the recurring role of Diggie on the Disney Channel comedy Liv and Maddie. He was in the show until the finale, which aired on March 24, 2017.^[10]

In 2015, he starred in the direct-to-video film R.L. Stine's Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls.^[11] In May 2015, Dove Cameron announced that she and McCartan were officially forming a pop duo and would be releasing their first original song.^[12] In September 2015, they announced their group's name would be The Girl and the Dreamcatcher,^[13] and their first video was released in October 2015.^[14] The pair broke up in October 2016.^[15]

In 2016 McCartan was cast in the lead role of Brad Majors in the 2016 Fox musical television film The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again.^[16]

On September 11, 2018, McCartan made his Broadway debut as Fiyero in the musical Wicked.^[17] He remained with the show until May 12, 2019, where Jessica Vosk also played her final performance as Elphaba.^[18]

In mid-2018 he originated the lead role of Eddie Corbin in the new musical Mutt House at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, and in August 2019 he played Lt. Cable in South Pacific at the Aspen Music Festival.^[19] In 2019, he starred in the role of Mac in the Roundabout Theatre Company's new musical Scotland PA.^[20] In November 2019 he made his solo show debut at Feinstein's/54 Below.^{[citation needed]} In April 2020, he hosted the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS viewing of 25 Years of Disney Broadway.^[21]

He joined the cast of Frozen on Broadway as Hans in February 2020 opposite McKenzie Kurtz as Anna and Ciara Renée as Elsa.^[22] However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all Broadway theatres were closed in March. Disney later announced, on May 14, 2020, that Frozen would not reopen after the lifting of the lockdown.^[23] During 2022, he played Hans in the Broadway National tour of Frozen for two runs, with his final performance being September 4, 2022. His first run would reunite him with Kurtz, his Broadway Anna.^[24][25]

In October 2022, McCartan was cast as Kyle Reed in the spin-off of Supernatural, The Winchesters.^[26]

In June 2023, McCartan starred as Tony in a production of West Side Story at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.^[27][28][29]

In November 2023, McCartan starred as Cletis in the Off-Broadway production of Lone Star.^[30] In September 2024, he took on the titular role in Randy Newman's Faust at The Soraya in Los Angeles, California. He starred opposite Reeve Carney, Javier Munoz and Veronica Swift.^[31]

In 2024, McCartan was announced to star in the Ahmanson Theatre and Broadway productions of Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends from February to June 2025.^[32] However, it was later announced McCartan would be replaced by Kyle Selig, and instead join the cast of The Great Gatsby on Broadway beginning in January 2025 replacing Jeremy Jordan in the title role. He's performed opposite Eva Noblezada, Sarah Hyland, and Aisha Jackson as Daisy.^[33][34][35]

In May 2026, he’ll star in West Side Story as Tony as a part of the Washington National Opera at the Lyric Baltimore and Music Center at Strathmore.^[36]

McCartan began dating actress and singer Dove Cameron who was his Liv & Maddie co-star in August 2013. He officially announced that Cameron was his fiancée on April 14, 2016,^[37][38] but the relationship ended in October 2016.^[15]

In October 2017, McCartan began dating Samantha Fekete, with whom he ran a YouTube channel called The Stage Door, previously known as Sam & Ryan.^[39] In September 2023, McCartan and Fekete revealed that they had amicably ended their romantic relationship, but planned to continue running The Stage Door together and remain friends.^[40] Later, however, the duo announced the discontinuation of the channel on a YouTube community post.^[41]

On July 29, 2014, McCartan revealed in a tweet that he has had Type-1 diabetes since age six.^[42] In 2019, McCartan stated in an interview that he had been sexually abused by a theatre mentor when he was 12.^[43]

In multiple Sam & Ryan videos and other Internet media, McCartan has self-identified as either queer or bisexual.^[44][45]

* Credits in bold indicate Broadway venues