The Tony-winning Broadway star opens up to PEOPLE about the person in his life who “makes me laugh the most, without question”
Credit: Jenny Anderson/Getty for Tony Awards Productions
NEED TO KNOW
- Brandon Uranowitz is in contention for a Tony Award for his leading role in Broadway’s hit revival of Ragtime
- The actor is “really, really grateful” for the life he’s built with longtime partner and husband Zachary Prince, he tells PEOPLE
- After an intense performance in Ragtime, Uranowitz returns to home life in New Jersey with Prince, “who roots me back in reality,” he says
Between another Tony Award nomination and a loving husband, Brandon Uranowitz has plenty to celebrate these days.
“I'm actually really, really grateful for this life that we've built,” the star of Broadway's Ragtime tells PEOPLE of his relationship with fellow actor Zachary Prince
Uranowitz, 39, and Prince, 42, met while working on the 2011 production of Baby It's You!, the short-lived Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott jukebox musical about the rise of 1960s girl group The Shirelles and record producer Florence Greenberg
The show was a flop, but a romance blossomed behind the scenes as the pair spent long days rehearsing and nights performing together. "At least that show was not for nothing,"Uranowitz laughs. "Something really good came out of it, all right? I fell in love."
Credit: Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty
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It wasn't something either expected. “The funny thing about it is we had both come into that experience having privately made vows to ourselves that we would not date other actors, we would not date within the business,” Uranowitz says. “It's always messy. It's always annoying. It never worked out.
The universe, as Uranowitz says, had other plans. “Both of us were really trying to avoid the instant connection, because we were like, ‘I can't do this.' But it was undeniable.
Now, nearly 15 years later, Uranowitz says he loves “everything” about his husband “He keeps me grounded and sane. He muffles my neurosis very easily, and he is the person in my life that makes me laugh the most, without question.”
Credit: Matthew Murphy
That support system has become especially important amid eight shows a week in Lincoln Center Theater's acclaimed revival of Ragtime at New York City's Vivian Beaumont Theater
For his performance as Tateh, a Jewish immigrant and single father determined to build a better life for his daughter, Uranowitz is now a five-time Tony Award nominee. He's up for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, after winning Broadway's highest honor in 2023 for the play Leopoldstadt
Part of the challenge, he says, is just how much of himself he sees in Tateh. The role allows Uranowitz to showcase the qualities that have made him one of Broadway's most respected actors: an ability to find both humor and heartbreak in the same moment.
“The thing about Tateh that I don't think I realized — obviously I've known the show for decades — was how much I relate to him,” Uranowitz says. “And not necessarily his story, even though it's very much my family's story coming through Ellis Island, but I think I relate to him just as a person and how he navigates the world.
"Tateh exists at the intersection of rage and buffoonery, and that's where I live at all times," Uranowitz adds. "That's where I go down one road or the other"
Credit: Matthew Murphy
Based on E. L. Doctorow's acclaimed novel, Ragtime tells the epic story of three families in early 20th-century America — one white, one Black, and one Jewish immigrant — whose lives intersect amid that time of resonant social change. The Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens and Terrence McNally musical first appeared on Broadway in a 1998 production starring Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and the late Marin Mazzie.
The emotional show is “a lot" for Uranowitz to carry with him, he admits. But Prince helps him recover.
“To have someone at home — who roots me back in reality, makes me laugh every night — is everything," Uranowitz says. "No matter what I'm going through, no matter what mood we're in, we always find a way to laugh.”
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The pair moved to New Jersey during the pandemic, a change that provided an added benefit for Uranowitz after performances. "I was nervous that I would miss the city. And everyone's like, ‘Oh, you have to commute to New Jersey!' But that time between when the curtain comes down and driving home is precious, sacred time where I can decompress,” he says.
Coming home to his partner, says Uranowitz with a smile, “I can release it, I can let go of it. I can come out of whatever that experience is, and be a person again.”
Going into this year's Tony Awards ceremony, Uranowitz's nod is one of 11 nominations for Ragtime. Directed by Lear deBessonet, the show is also up for Best Revival of a Musical and performance honors for Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Nichelle Lewis and Ben Levi Ross.
Though this marks his fifth Tony nomination, Uranowitz says the recognition never loses its impact
"Every time it's a brand new thing. It's a brand new character. It's a brand new show. It's a brand new experience," he says. "Every time I come to a new character, I put everything that I have into it."
Credit: Matthew Murphy
That's especially true of Tateh, a role that has challenged him both professionally and personally.
"But the thing that I am really, really leaning into these days, I don't know if it was COVID, I don't know what it was, but I have to do things that scare me. Because the reward is so much greater than coasting and playing this game."
Ragtime is now playing at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The 2026 Tony Awards (hosted by Pink) will take place at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 7. The show will be broadcast live to both coasts on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, and will stream on Paramount+.
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