Victor Jay Garber, (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian–American actor and singer. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2022, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Garber originated roles in the Broadway productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 1979, Noises Off in 1983, Lend Me a Tenor in 1989, Arcadia in 1995 and Art in 1998. He's received four Tony Award nominations for his performances in the play Deathtrap in 1978, the Neil Simon musical Little Me in 1982, the comedic play Lend Me a Tenor in 1989 and the musical comedy revival of Damn Yankees in 1994.
He made his film debut as Jesus Christ in the musical Godspell (1973). He has also been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards along with the casts of the critically acclaimed films Titanic (1997), Milk (2008), and Argo (2012) winning for the latter. Other notable films include Sleepless in Seattle (1993), The First Wives Club (1996), Legally Blonde (2001), Sicario (2015), Dark Waters (2019), and Happiest Season (2020).
On television, Garber is best known as Jack Bristow in the ABC series Alias (2001 to 2006) for which he received three consecutive Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nominations. He received further Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Sidney Luft in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001) and for his guest roles in the sitcoms Frasier in 2001 and Will & Grace in 2005. He has since joined the Arrowverse appearing as Martin Stein / Firestorm in the superhero series The Flash (2015–2017) and Legends of Tomorrow (2016–2017, 2021).
Early life
Garber was born in London, Ontario, Canada, and is of Russian-Jewish descent. His father was Joseph "Joe" Garber (died 1995), and his mother, Bessie Hope Wolf (died 2005), was an actress, singer, and the host of At Home with Hope Garber. He has a brother, Nathan, and a sister, Alisa.
Garber began acting at the age of nine in 1958, and studied at the University of Toronto's Hart House at age 16. He attended Ryerson Elementary School and London Central Secondary School. He also was enrolled in the children's program of the Grand Theatre; and, at age 16, he was accepted at a six-week summer theatre training program at the University of Toronto taught by Robert Gill. In New York, he studied acting at HB Studio.
Career
Music
In 1967, after a period working as a solo folk singer, he formed a folk group called The Sugar Shoppe with Peter Mann, Laurie Hood and Lee Harris. The group enjoyed moderate success, breaking into the Canadian Top 40 with a version of Bobby Gimby's song "Canada" (1967). Three other Sugar Shoppe songs made the lower reaches of the Canadian Top 100 in 1967 and '68. The band had performed on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson before breaking up.
Theatre
He played Jesus in Toronto's 1972 production of Godspell, alongside Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, Dave Thomas, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short. In 1985 he appeared in Noises Off at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
He appeared on Broadway in the original productions of Deathtrap, Sweeney Todd and Noises Off (1983), and in the original Off-Broadway cast of Assassins, as well as the 1990s revival of Damn Yankees. In 1986, Garber appeared at Circle in the Square opposite Uta Hagen in You Never Can Tell. He has been nominated for four Tony Awards and opened the Tony Awards program in 1994 (the year he was nominated for the Tony Award for Damn Yankees). In 1998, he co-starred on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning play Art with Alan Alda and Alfred Molina. In 2005, he played the role of Frederic in the Los Angeles Opera production of A Little Night Music. He played Ben in a critically praised Encores! staged concert production of Follies (2007) opposite Donna Murphy. In mid-2007, he played Garry Essendine in a production of Noël Coward's Present Laughter at Boston's Huntington Theatre. He reprised the role on Broadway in the Roundabout Theatre production, which opened in January 2010.
In January 2018, Garber replaced David Hyde Pierce as Horace Vandergelder in the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! at the Shubert Theatre opposite Bernadette Peters. Garber began performances on January 20 prior to the press opening on February 22.
Garber received the 2018 Theatre World John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement.