Andrew Michael Edgar Seeley[1] (born April 30, 1982) is a Canadian actor, singer and dancer. He has recorded many songs for the Walt Disney Company. He danced as a child in Ontario until he was about preteen age and then moved to Florida.

Drew Seeley
Seeley during the High School Musical: The Concert tour
Born
Andrew Michael Edgar Seeley

(1982-04-30) April 30, 1982 (age 42)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
  • dancer
Years active1999–present
Spouse
(m. 2013)
Children1
Musical career
Genres
Labels
  • TweenPower Entertainment
  • Drewzilla

Early and personal life

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Seeley grew up in Toronto and fell in love with performing. He was once part of a boy band called Nu Ground. He was cast in Hal Prince's revival of Show Boat and stayed with the production for a year. In 2005, Seeley started working with Ray Cham, an established producer, and together they wrote "Get'cha Head in the Game", a song that was a nominee in the Creative Arts Primetime Emmy for Best Original Music and Lyrics.

Seeley is married to actress/comedian Amy Paffrath. The couple has one child, a daughter, who was born in 2019.[2] That same year, Seeley received U.S. citizenship.[citation needed]

Career

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2005–2010: Breakthrough films and debut album

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Drew Seeley performing with Vanessa Hudgens.

In 2005, Seeley began working with founded producer Ray Cham and together they wrote "Get'cha Head in the Game" for Disney's quadruple platinum High School Musical soundtrack. This garnered them an Emmy nomination in the Best Original Music and Lyrics category. He also auditioned alongside Zac Efron for the role of Troy Bolton in the first High School Musical film,[3] to which Efron won the part while Seeley acted as the character's singing voice, which was blended with Efron's voice in post-production. In addition, Seeley filled in for Efron (who could not join the tour due to a scheduling conflict with the shooting of the 2007 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Hairspray) on the North America and Latin America tours of High School Musical: The Concert, playing in 60,000 seat arenas and he can be heard on both soundtracks and High School Musical on Stage!.

Seeley's association with Disney continued and he can be heard as a featured artist on several Disney soundtracks/compilation albums including Disneymania 5, Disneymania 6, Disney Channel Holiday, Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 9, and Byou. Drew's duet with Spanish-born Mexican singer Belinda "Dance with Me", from the platinum Cheetah Girls 2 soundtrack, was played on the Disney Channel and on Radio Disney. Drew appeared in Belinda's video of "Ni Freud ni tu mamá". Drew also made a guest appearance on the 2008 Chipmunks CD Undeniable, singing an updated take on "Shake Your Groove Thing" with Alvin and the gang. Seeley appeared in the Hallmark Channel Movie Claire opposite Valerie Bertinelli, and in the film Fly Kidz, for which he co-wrote and produced the soundtrack. He also wrote and performed music for the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! starring Corbin Bleu and Keke Palmer.

Seeley starred opposite Selena Gomez and Jane Lynch in Another Cinderella Story, playing the pop star Joey Parker.[4] Drew wrote and performed four songs in the film, and shot music videos for both versions of his hit song, "New Classic". Seeley also appeared in the Disney Channel Original Movie Stuck in the Suburbs as a hotel employee.

In the summer of 2009 he starred as Prince Eric in the Disney Broadway Musical The Little Mermaid,[5] and had a leading role in the horror movie The Shortcut. In June 2010, Seeley starred in the Hallmark Channel television movie Freshman Father.[6]

2011–present: The Resolution, films and television

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Seeley's album The Resolution was released on April 5, 2011. In support of the album, Drew went on a national tour where he performed his own original music. He also sang a song for the Disney Channel original series Shake It Up. A duet with Adam Hicks, "Dance for Life," premiered in the episode "Vatalihoosit It Up", backed by a routine performed by dance crew the Jabbawockeez. "Dance for Life" was featured on the soundtrack for the show, Shake It Up: Break It Down. Seeley's song "It's Always Been You" was used as the theme of Crown for Christmas, a 2011 Hallmark Channel movie.[7]

On June 12, 2011, Seeley was reported to have joined the CW's hit teen drama series 90210, but Entertainment Weekly later reported that he dropped the role due to a conflict with his schedule. In March 2012, I Kissed a Vampire was released, in which Seeley stars alongside Lucas Grabeel and Adrian Slade.[8] In June 2012, he co-starred in the Lifetime movie, "Talhotblond", playing young "Tommy". Seeley has also released music videos for his song "Beautiful", and most recently "Into The Fire". Drew recorded a song for the third Shake It Up soundtrack Shake It Up: I Love Dance, called "I Do". It featured on Walmart-exclusive editions as a bonus track. The song was also featured in the Shake It Up season 3 episode, "I Do It Up".

In 2013, Seeley began filming his role in a new film, Elixir, which was renamed Lovestruck: The Musical on ABC Family. Seeley played the role of "Young Ryan". He played opposite Chelsea Kane (Young Harper), Jane Seymour (Harper), Sara Paxton (Mirabella), Tom Wopat (Ryan), and Alexander DiPersia (Marco). He is featured singing his rendition of Usher's "DJ's Got Us Fallin’ in Love". In conjunction with the new movie, Seeley co-wrote and performed "Here & Now," the theme song to ABC Family's spring promotional campaign. The song was featured on Seeley's dance-pop EP released in April 2013.[9] In 2014, Seeley performed as "Bob Gaudio" in Jersey Boys for the US tour.[10]

In 2022, he recorded “Fire” for the doll-based webseries Rainbow High.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1999 Camp Tanglefoot: It All Adds Up Tommy
2005 Complete Guide to Guys Stearns
2006 Christopher Brennan Saves the World Tom Hartwell Short film
The Modern Unicorn's Guide to Love and Magic Matt Short film
2008 Another Cinderella Story Joey Parker Direct-to-video
2009 The Shortcut Derek
2012 The Madame Partier Short film
I Kissed a Vampire Trey Sylvania
Pitch Perfect Male Voice No. 5
2013 Get the Girl Back Sonny Short film
2014 LA Bound: 7 Things Nobody Tells You About Moving to LA Parking Guy 1 Short film
Second Time Around Sean Short film
2015 Yellow Day The Good Man
2016 Union Bound Confederate Sharpshooter
Chalk It Up Todd
Do Over Sean King
2019 Write Before Christmas Jax
2021 Christmas Movie Magic Brad Westdale

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2000 Guiding Light Andrew 3 episodes; as Andrew Seeley
2002 Dawson's Creek Male Episode: "The Importance of Not Being Too Earnest"; as Andrew Seeley
2003–2004 One Tree Hill Johnny "Vegas" Norris Episodes: "Crash Into You", "You Gotta Go There to Come Back"; as Andrew Seeley
2004 Stuck in the Suburbs Front Desk Clerk Television film; as Andrew Seeley
2005 Locusts Willy Television film; as Andrew Seeley
Campus Confidential Logan Television film; as Andrew Seeley
2006 High School Musical singing voice of Troy Bolton Television film
2007 Claire Bobby Mills Television film
2008 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody David/Jeffery Episode: "Romancing the Phone"
2010 Freshman Father John Patton Television film
The Closer Boyd Martin Episode: "Jump the Gun"
2010–2011 Glory Daze Jason Wilson Main role
2012 Tallhotblond Tommy Television film
2013 Lovestruck: The Musical Ryan Hutton/Angus Television film
Non-Stop Ronnie Television film
2018 Lethal Admirer Lloyd Television film; also known as A Friend's Obsession
He Knows Your Every Move Jack Newsom Television film
A Christmas for the Books Ted Dinrise Television film
2019 Robot Chicken Various voices Episode: "Garfield Stockman in: A Voice Like Wet Ham"
2022 The Rookie Francis Bloomfield Episode : "Backstabbers"
Year Title Role Notes
2009 I Kissed a Vampire Trey Sylvania Main role
2012 Trend This! Himself Episode: "The Dance"
2013 The Flip Side Andy 2 episodes
Minute Motivations Andy Episode: "Holiday Special"
2014 The Interrogationists Jason Vance Episode: "The Husband"
His & Hers Jason Episode: "All Your Friends Are Men"
CoffeeHouse Brandon Sherwood Episode: "Pilot"

Stage

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Year Title Role Notes
2009 The Little Mermaid Prince Eric Broadway[11]
2011 Celebrity Improv Mashup Various Stand-up comedy
2014-2017 Jersey Boys Bob Gaudio Broadway[12] & US Tour[13]
2022 Kinky Boots Ensemble Hollywood Bowl[14]

Discography

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Studio albums
  • ~DS~ (2006)
  • The Resolution (2011)
  • Downtime (2018)

Awards and nominations

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Year Award ceremony Category/Work Nominee(s) Result
2006 Creative Arts Primetime Emmys Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics
for "Get'cha Head in the Game" from High School Musical
Ray Cham, Greg Cham and Drew Seeley Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Hernandez, Ernio (June 16, 2009). "PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: Drew Seeley". Playbill.
  2. ^ "during a performance of the sketch comedy show Top Story! Weekly". TV.com. Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  3. ^ "Who Are the Real Student Bodies". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  4. ^ "Drew Seeley Interview". Feeling the Vibe. April 26, 2009. Archived from the original on June 15, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  5. ^ Andrew Gans (June 9, 2009). "Little Mermaid Welcomes Drew Seeley June 9". Playbill. Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  6. ^ "One Freshman is Earning his Degree in Daddy. Emmy Nominee and 'High School Musical' Singer Drew Seeley, Golden Globe Nominee Annie Potts and Four-Time Emmy Winner KimZimmer Co-Star in Freshman Father. A Hallmark Channel Original Movie Premiering June 5" (Press release). Hallmark Channel. April 6, 2010. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  7. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "It's Always Been You (feat. Drew Seeley)". YouTube.
  8. ^ "TWIST Chats with Drew Seeley!". Twist Magazine. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  9. ^ "Sound Booth - Meet Drew Seeley: Star of ABC Family's Lovestruck: The Musical - ABCFamily.com". Archived from the original on April 26, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  10. ^ BWW News Desk. "Drew Seeley & Keith Hines to Join Cast of JERSEY BOYS National Tour". BroadwayWorld.com.
  11. ^ "Drew Seeley Is The Little Mermaid's Handsome New Prince". Broadway.com. May 30, 2011. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
  12. ^ Broadway’s Jersey Boys Welcomes New Leading Players
  13. ^ "Drew Seeley Joins The Cast Of 'Jersey Boys' National Tour". Disney Dreaming. May 30, 2011. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
  14. ^ See Who's Joining Wayne Brady and Jake Shears in Hollywood Bowl Kinky Boots
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