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Hayward's James Monroe Iglehart is perhaps best known for his Tony award-winning performance as the Genie from 2014-2017 in Aladdin on Broadway.
He then took on the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the Broadway company of Hamilton and can be heard in As the Curtain Rises, Broadways' first original podcast soap opera.
He found his love for singing at Palma Ceia Baptist Church in Hayward, with encouragement from his mother, who taught music at Tennyson High School.
"My first solo was in church at age 5," he said in an interview with Broadway's Playbill. "I heard the applause and I was hooked. That's where it all started."
He met his wife Dawn in the Mt. Eden High School choir and, on graduation, received a scholarship from California State University, Hayward/East Bay. After 12 years of making a name for himself in film, TV, and theatrical productions, he was starring in Aladdin.
He told Playbill his advice for all aspiring performers: "Believe in yourself."
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