Colin Bates
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| Colin Bates | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 17, 1990 |
| Occupation | Stage actor, singer, dancer |
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Colin Bates (born August 17, 1990) is a young American actor, singer and dancer.
He was born in Los Angeles to British father Robert and American mother Donna. He now lives in Pennsylvania and attends the Baltimore School for the Arts. He has competed in dance since the age of 9 and enjoys ballet, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical and hip hop. He has also competed in gymnastics.
He played Charlie Bates and then The Artful Dodger in the U.S. national tour of Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver!. He was to appear in the 2006 film The Good Shepherd as Edward Wilson Jr. at age 13, but his scenes were deleted from the theatrical release. His scenes can be found on the films DVD. He was also offered the part in the recently released epic movie 300 playing Leonidas at age 15, but had to turn down the part because he couldn't go bald due to his commitment to Billy Elliot the Musical and The Good Shepherd
Colin has played the part of Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical on the West End at the Victoria Palace Theatre to great acclaim. He was the first American to play the part of Billy on the West End and first American ever even though it has not yet opened on Broadway. In November 2005 at preliminary auditions for Billy in the U.S, he went to the audition being 15 when the cut off age was 14 but director Stephen Daldry, realizing Colin would be too old for the Broadway production but also realizing his potential, brought Colin to London a few weeks later with his family to start rehearsals and debuted on March 13, 2006. Colin has appeared on the CBBC Channel talking about his role as Billy Elliot. He is also featured on the new electronic press kit trailer (December 2006) for the musical.
Colin left the hit west end show on Saturday, 24th February 2007. Colin is the fifth Billy to leave the show, joining James Lomas, George Maguire, Liam Mower and Matthew Koon as veterans. Colin is currently back home in Pennsylvania and still attending auditions while returning to Baltimore School for the Arts.
