Ramin Karimloo

Ramin Karimloo plays Frederick Barrett in the Encores! production of Titanic at New York City Center from June 12-23, 2024.

Ramin Karimloo was born in Tehran, Iran, on September 19, 1978. He moved to Canada at a young age and attended the Alexander Mackenzie High School in Richmond Hill, Ontario. After leaving school at 18, Ramin jobbed for the next few years in rock bands and on ship cruises. After moving to England, his first major professional job came in 2001, when he joined the UK touring cast of The Pirates of Penzance and eventually took over the role of the Pirate King in 2002. He moved straight onto his next UK Tour that same year, playing Artie Green in Sunset Boulevard, until he was able to secure his West End debut, joining the cast of London's long-running musical Les Misérables.

The Schönberg-Boublil musical would play a major part in his life and Ramin would return to the West End production in 2004 to play the role of Enjolras, which he would reprise at the acclaimed 25th Anniversary Concert at The O2 Arena in 2010. He first played the lead role of Jean Valjean in the West End in 2011 and went on to reprise his performance in Toronto in 2013. Finally, Ramin made his Broadway debut as Jean Valjean in Cameron Mackintosh's 2014 revival and went on to earn his first Tony Award nomination in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.

Ramin also played the role of Chris in the 2005 UK Tour of another popular Schönberg-Boublil musical - Miss Saigon.

The other musical that has undeniably propelled Ramin's stage career into stardom is Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. He first played the role of Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, in the West End production in 2003, and returned to the same production in 2007 to play The Phantom himself. He reprised the role at The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall in 2011. Ramin also originated the role of The Phantom in the world premiere of the sequel Love Never Dies in 2010 at London's Adelphi Theatre, earning his first Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.

Other notable credits in Ramin's career include the world premiere of Prince of Broadway in Japan in 2015, the Lincoln Center concert productions of Parade in 2015 and Secret Garden in 2016, as well as a West End run as Tom in Murder Ballad. He returned to Broadway and took on the roles of Gleb Vaganov in the new stage adaptation of Anastasia in March 2017 and the role of Nick Arnstein in the first Broadway revival of Funny Girl in 2022.