Danny Burstein (born June 16, 1964) is an American actor and singer. Known for his work on Broadway stage, he has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a Drama League Award, and three Drama Desk Awards, in addition to nominations for four Grammy Awards.
A nine-time Tony Award nominee, Burstein won the 2020 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! on Broadway. His other Tony-nominated roles were in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), South Pacific (2008), Follies (2011), Golden Boy (2013), Cabaret (2014), Fiddler on the Roof (2015), Gypsy (2024), and Marjorie Prime (2025). Other notable Broadway credits include The Seagull (1992), Saint Joan (1993), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), and Pictures from Home (2023). He currently holds the record for the most Tony Award nominations by a male performer (9).
Burstein's television work includes a feature-length episode of the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (2002) and a Staten Island father in the first season of Louie (2010). He appeared as different characters in six episodes of the original run of the NBC drama series Law & Order (1995–2010), and also recurred as Lolly Steinman on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2011) and as D.A. Lewis Cormier on the CBS series Evil (2019–2024). His film appearances include Transamerica (2005), Deception (2008), The Family Fang (2015), and Indignation (2016).
Burstein was born in Mt. Kisco, New York, and was raised in New York City. Danny's parents separated when he was two months old. He was raised by his mother, Virginia (Vega), a painter, and his stepfather, Harvey Burstein, a professor of Greek philosophy. His mother, who is from Costa Rica, is Catholic and of Spanish descent, and his stepfather is Jewish. He was not raised in any particular faith and celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays.
Burstein attended the High School of the Performing Arts. While in high school, he performed in community theatre and summer stock in New Hampshire for which he was paid $200 for the entire season. He graduated from Queens College in New York City, during which time he obtained his first professional acting job in the chorus of The Music Man at The Muny in St. Louis. He received an MFA from the graduate acting program at the University of California, San Diego in 1990. During his time in drama school at UCSD, he appeared in Macbeth at La Jolla Playhouse.
Burstein's early appearances on Broadway included A Little Hotel on the Side (1992), Yakov in The Seagull (1992–93), in Saint Joan and Three Men on a Horse (both in 1993), Paul in Company (1995), 1st Officer William Murdoch in Titanic (1997–99), and A Class Act (2001) at Manhattan Theatre Club. Other New York theatre performances in his early career included I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (1996 and 2002) at the Westside Theatre, Ru/Floor Monitor/Pianist in Merrily We Roll Along (1994) at the York Theatre at St. Peter's Church, All in the Timing (1994) at the John Houseman Theatre, Daniel in Alan Menken and David Spencer's Weird Romance (1992) at the WPA, Solomon in The Rothschilds (1990) and Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (1992), both at Circle in the Square, and The United Way at Ensemble Studio Theater.
Burstein appeared in the world premieres of A. R. Gurney's Mrs. Farnsworth (2004), opposite Sigourney Weaver and John Lithgow, at The Flea Theater and Psych (2001) at Playwrights Horizons. He has appeared in the Encores! (New York City Center) staged concert productions of Du Barry Was a Lady (1996), as Romeo Skragg in Li'l Abner (1998), as Tailor-Merchant in The Boys from Syracuse (1997), and as Mister Mister in The Cradle Will Rock (2013). He has appeared in four concerts at Carnegie Hall including the Ira Gershwin centennial, as Steward in Sail Away (1999), and in Candide (2018).
Burstein's early film roles included Duane Incarnate (2004), Transamerica (2005), and Deception (2008). He also appeared in several Law & Order series and the BBC's Absolutely Fabulous (2002). Burstein has lent his voice to a number of video games, including Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Manhunt 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Neverwinter Nights 2.
Burstein appeared on Broadway as Aldolpho in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006–07) and Luther Billis in South Pacific (2008–10), receiving Tony Award nominations for both. He also appeared as Taxi Driver in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010–11). He was cast in HBO's Boardwalk Empire after director Martin Scorsese saw him in South Pacific, and after auditioning for three different characters, he landed the part of Lolly Steinman.
He played the role of Buddy Plummer in the Kennedy Center production of Follies, which ran from May 7, 2011, through June 19, 2011, at the Eisenhower Theater, co-starring with Bernadette Peters, Ron Raines, and Jan Maxwell. He reprised that role in the Broadway engagement of Follies at the Marquis Theatre from August 7, 2011 (in previews) through January 22, 2012, and continued with the production in its engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California from May 3, 2012, through June 9, 2012. He won the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Burstein received Tony Award nominations for playing Tokio in Golden Boy (2012–2013) and Herr Schultz in the 2014 revival of Cabaret (2014–15), and also appeared on Broadway as Max in the Sharr White play The Snow Geese (2013). Burstein can be heard on the cast recordings of many musicals. Among his many recordings is the musical Sweet Little Devil in which he introduced three George Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva songs. The score originally went unrecorded in 1924 and was finally recorded by PS Classics, with Burstein playing the role of Sam in 2012. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Frosch in Die Fledermaus (2013–14 season). Burstein appeared in Talley's Folly (2013) opposite Sarah Paulson at The Roundabout Theater Company for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama League Award.
Burstein serves on the Artists Committee of the Kennedy Center Honors and has been a guest lecturer teaching at many universities such as Yale, NYU, Juilliard, UCSD and Queens College.
Burstein played the role of Tevye in the 2015 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, at the Broadway Theatre, directed by Bartlett Sher. The revival began in previews on November 20, 2015, and officially opened on December 20, 2015, and closed on December 31, 2016. He received his sixth Tony Award nomination for his performance. He appeared in Rajiv Joseph's Describe the Night (2017) at the Atlantic Theater Company. In the summer of 2017, he played the role of Nick Bottom in the New York Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In the 2010s, Burstein appeared in films such Nor'easter (2013), Trust, Greed, Bullets and Bourbon (2013), American Milkshake (2013), Autumn Whispers (2013), Affluenza (2014), Blackhat (2015), directed by Michael Mann, The Family Fang (2015), opposite Nicole Kidman and directed by Jason Bateman, Construction (2015), Indignation (2016), written and directed by James Schamus, and The Sounding (2017), written and directed by Catherine Eaton. His television credits included guest starring on Tales of the City (2019), Fosse/Verdon (2019), The Blacklist (2019), Madam Secretary (2018), NCIS: New Orleans (2018), Instinct (2018), Elementary (2017), The Good Wife (2015), and the FX series Louie (2010).
He appeared as Alfred P. Doolittle in the Broadway revival of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center Theater starting January 8, 2019. He also originated the on-stage role of Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston from July 10, 2018, to August 19, 2018. He reprised the role on Broadway in 2019. In 2021, Burstein received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Moulin Rouge!