Background and career
Joshua Ilan Gad (born February 23, 1981) is an American actor, singer and comedian. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received a Grammy Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He was honored with the Disney Legend Award in 2022. Gad gained prominence for his starring role acting opposite Andrew Rannells in the Broadway musical comedy The Book of Mormon (2011–2012) for which he won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album as well as a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway reuniting with Rannells in another musical comedy Gutenberg! The Musical! (2023–2024). He has also acted in productions of the musicals The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2006) and Jesus Christ Superstar (2025). He has acted in comedy films such as Love & Other Drugs (2010), Thanks for Sharing (2012), The Internship (2013), The Wedding Ringer (2015), Pixels (2015) as well as dramatic roles in 21 (2008), Jobs (2013), Marshall (2017) and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). He portrayed LeFou in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and voiced Olaf in the Frozen franchise (2013–) and Chuck in The Angry Birds Movie trilogy (2016–2026). On television, he was a correspondent on the Comedy Central political variety series The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 2009 to 2011 before co-creating, producing, and starring in the NBC sitcom 1600 Penn (2012–2013). He has had main roles in the FX sitcom The Comedians (2015) and the HBO comedy series Avenue 5 (2020–2022) as well as recurring roles on Modern Family (2011, 2020) and New Girl (2012–2015).
Joshua Ilan Gad was born in Hollywood, Florida, on February 23, 1981. His mother, Susan, is a real estate agent and his stepfather is an investment advisor. Gad has two older brothers, a stepbrother, and a stepsister. His father, Sam (Shmuel) Gad, was born to a Jewish family in Afghanistan and moved to Israel as a teenager. Gad believes his father is a descendant of the Tribe of Gad, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, further stating that his paternal ancestors traveled through India before settling in Afghanistan. His mother was born in Germany to an Ashkenazi Jewish family of Holocaust survivors. Gad was raised Jewish. Gad attended high school at the University School of Nova Southeastern University, graduating in 1999. As a student there, he won the National Forensics League National Tournament Championships for Original Oratory in 1998 and 1999. He also won the 1999 Humorous Interpretation at the National tournament in Phoenix. He attended the Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts, where he graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama. He attended college with fellow Broadway stars Leslie Odom Jr. and Rory O'Malley, the latter of whom he based his portrayal of Olaf in Frozen on. During this time, he undertook a semester-long exchange at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Gad made his film debut in the 2002 film Mary and Joe. His television debut was in 2005 in an episode of the NBC medical drama series ER. The same year, he replaced Dan Fogler as William Barfée in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway after Fogler left the show. Gad went on to star in the Fox sitcom Back to You as news director Ryan Church. The sitcom lasted one season from 2007 to 2008. In 2008, Gad had a supporting role in the drama film 21, and a leading role in the comedy film The Rocker.
After Back to You, Gad appeared as a correspondent on The Daily Show on May 5, 2009, and became a regular correspondent on June 2, 2009. His signature segments include "The War on Christmas", in which he played an oversexed Benjamin Franklin, and "Chubby Chasers", in which he reported on Michelle Obama's efforts to curb childhood obesity. Gad made his final appearance as a correspondent on June 27, 2011. Also in 2009, Gad starred in the short-form Crackle horror comedy series Woke Up Dead. In 2010, he had a supporting role in the romantic comedy-drama film Love & Other Drugs. That same year, Gad had a voice role in the family comedy film Marmaduke. In 2011, Gad voiced Mondo in the MTV adult animated sitcom Good Vibes. That same year, Gad portrayed Elder Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. The show opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24, 2011. His last performance was June 6, 2012. Gad was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical and won for Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, along with his costar Andrew Rannells. In 2012, Gad had a leading role in the independent film She Wants Me. Also in 2012, Gad co-created, produced and starred in the NBC sitcom 1600 Penn. Both Good Vibes and 1600 Penn were canceled after one season. That same year, Gad voiced the molehog Louis in Ice Age: Continental Drift.
In 2013, he played Andrew in the film The Internship and starred as Steve Wozniak in the film Jobs. The same year, he voiced Olaf in the Disney film Frozen, re-collaborating with co-songwriter Robert Lopez from The Book of Mormon. In 2014, Gad costarred in Zach Braff's film Wish I Was Here, playing the main character's brother. In 2015, Gad starred in The Wedding Ringer and starred in Pixels, a film about video game players who are recruited by the military to fight 1980s-era video game characters who have attack the Earth. That same year, Gad costarred with Billy Crystal on the FX comedy series The Comedians, which premiered on April 9, 2015. The series was canceled after one season. In 2016, Gad voiced Chuck in The Angry Birds Movie, based on the game franchise of the same name. In 2017, Gad voiced the dog Bailey in A Dog's Purpose. Also that year, he played LeFou in the live-action adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon and costarring with Emma Watson. Gad also starred in Reginald Hudlin's biographical drama Marshall, and Beauty and the Beast costar Dan Stevens, and Gad played Hector MacQueen in a film adaptation of Agatha Christie's detective novel Murder on the Orient Express, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh. In 2019, Gad starred in the Hulu horror-comedy Little Monsters. He also starred in A Dog's Journey, the sequel to A Dog's Purpose, reprising his role as Bailey. Also in 2019, Gad reprised his role of Olaf in the sequel Frozen 2 as well as the video game Kingdom Hearts III.
In 2020, Gad returned to television by starring in two different television series. First, Gad starred in the HBO science fiction comedy series Avenue 5. The series premiered on January 19 and was renewed for a second season a month later. Second, Gad created, produced and starred in the Apple TV+ animated musical comedy series Central Park. The series received a two-season order from Apple with each season set to consist of thirteen episodes each. The series premiered on May 29. He starred in the science fantasy adventure Artemis Fowl (2020), based on the book of the same name by Eoin Colfer. The film was initially set for a theatrical release but was changed to a streaming release on Disney+ due to the coronavirus pandemic. In September 2020 Gad joined Princess Bride Reunion, a virtual live script read-through of the 1987 film, in the role of Fezzik, originally played by André the Giant. The A.V. Club's review singled out his performance as "Josh Gad’s surprisingly moving Andre the Giant tribute... It was an impression in the gentlest, sweetest sense of the word, something remarked on repeatedly by the rest of the cast and host/moderator Patton Oswalt. 10s across the board." During the COVID-19 pandemic, where people were encouraged to practice social distancing, Gad launched the YouTube series Reunited Apart, which reunites the cast, via video conferencing, of several popular film and film series including Back to the Future and The Lord of the Rings. The series encourages its viewers to support non-profit charities such as Dig Deep, Project Hope, and No Kid Hungry. In June, Gad announced that the episode on Ferris Bueller's Day Off would be the last, though the series later returned for a second season, which premiered in December 2020 with the cast of Wayne's World. In the runup to the 2020 election, Gad joined other Broadway celebrities with the voter education nonprofit VoteRiders for a virtual party to raise awareness around the complexities of voter ID laws targeting at-risk voters.
