Roger Rathburn

Roger was nominated (2022/23) "Outstanding Lead Actor" (Short Film) at 2 festivals, the Rome International Film Festival in Rome and the World Independent Cinema Festival in Edinburg.

Roger grew up on a small farm near Blissfield, Michigan. While in college studying to be a minister, he took acting classes and performed in college productions to sharpen his preaching skills. By his senior year, however, acting, not preaching, had become his raison d'être.

Graduating from college shy of funds and shy of going off to New York to be an actor, he taught English at a rural high school in central Ohio. While there, not sure he should pursue acting professionally, he performed a monologue for a theatre professor at Denison University, renowned for their Theatre Department. Following the audition, the professor essentially told Roger to forget about it. So he did forget about acting and returned to teaching English another year in high school and two more years at Ohio State University while earning his MA in English and American Literature.

Then his life changed dramatically. To supplement his income while earning his MA, he lived with a family and cared for the grandfather, who was disabled by MS. One summer Roger drove the grandfather to a "society" wedding in Syracuse, New York. During the wedding reception dinner, on the spur of the moment, Roger stood, dedicating the song to the bride and groom, and sang, "I Could Have Danced All Night." When he finished, the guests wouldn't stop applauding, so he sang "Ole Man River." And again the guests wouldn't stop applauding. So Roger stood and said, "Thank you very much, but those are the only two songs I know."

The woman seated next to him, a VP at Compton Advertising, said, "You could make a living as a singer in New York right now."

And sure enough, a few months later, Roger went to New York and was cast at his first audition for the First National Tour of the musical "Mame."

For the next 3 years, Roger worked as an actor/singer almost non-stop, and then was cast as the juvenile lead in the hit Broadway Musical "No, No, Nanette," winning a Theatre World Award. He also played the leading man in the Broadway Musical "5 O'Clock Girl."

He has 17 Film, 16 TV, 21 Theatre credits, 5 performances on Conan O'Brien (Roger "shot" Conan. See "Conan Gets Shot" on YouTube) and the imprimatur of his career: He performed on the "Late Show with David Letterman" 22 times, almost always as Presidents and CEOs of major corporations. A video of one of those performances can be seen here on Roger's IMDb site.