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While many of our favorite actors have done Broadway over the years, some even got their start in it, some actors even went the extra mile and went nude on stage — like, fully nude. From Nicole Kidman to Stanley Tucci, many of our favorite actors have shown it all in the name of art.
And while we may have gotten used to seeing skin-baring sex scenes in movies, for example, it’s safe to say getting naked onstage takes another level of bravery. Grey’s Anatomy alum Jesse Williams, who made his Broadway debut in Take Me Out in 2022, wasn’t afraid to wear his birthday suit for the sake of the story.
“If somebody had just said it’s a play with nudity, it would have been framed differently,” he told the Associated Press. “But the nudity is honest. It makes sense. It’s not salacious. It serves the story. It puts the audience in an interesting position to relate to and empathize with the characters.”
Whether it’s to enhance to story of a play, or the performance as a band (we’re looking at you, Blink-182 and Red Hot Chilli Peppers), many celebrities have bared it all in front of a live audience. Read on for all the stars who have taken the brave step of stripping down on stage below.
Stanley Tucci
Back in 2002, Stanley Tucci starred in the Off-Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, per Playbill. According to InStyle, the play, which tells the untraditional love story of protagonists Frankie and Johnny, began with Tucci and his co-star, fellow actress Edie Falco, fully naked together making love.
Edie Falco
At the time, Falco even defended the decision to go fully nude for the sake of story-telling. “This play is about two people who are having sex, and there’s sort of no way to make an audience believe it if when you get out of bed you have your clothes on,” Falco told The New York Times in 2002.
”I trust Stan implicitly,” she continued.
Daniel Radcliffe
In 2008, Daniel Radcliffe went entirely nude for his debut Broadway role in the show Equus. The Harry Potter actor got a mountain of praise for his role, with many critics saying he outshone the production, per Reuters.
Harry Hamlin
Years before Radcliffe’s Broadway version, Harry Hamlin also led Equus in a 1975 production at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.
“They didn’t have us rehearse taking our clothes off so the first time we took our clothes off was actually the first night on stage together,” he told People. “It was trial by fire.”
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly has also bared it all onstage in a brief bathtub scene during Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2001 revival of The Women.
Jesse Williams
Grey’s AnatomyJesse Williams made his Broadway debut in the play Take Me Out in 2022, where he had to perform nude in a couple of scenes.
After receiving a Tony nomination for his stellar role, a member of the audience leaked a nude picture of him on stage. Since then, Forbes reported that security was beefed up to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Patrick J. Adams
Along with Jesse Williams, Suits alum Patrick J. Adams also went fully nude for his Broadway debut in Take Me Out. Adams spoke highly of the play for ETOnline, saying, “This has gotta be the smartest play that involves nudity. There’s something about it, it’s so fully integrated into the play.”
Nicole Kidman
For Nicole Kidman‘s Broadway debut in Dec. 1998, she made headlines for her role in The Blue Room. Along with that, she stripped down multiple times during the show’s 10 vignettes.
Lea Michele
Glee alum Lea Michele spoke fondly about her “tasteful” nude scene in the rock musical Spring Awakening. She told the now archived magazine Now Magazine per Digital Spy in 2010, “I just think it was done so tastefully. It wasn’t until I came back to see the show [once I’d left] that I was like, ‘Oh my God, I did that every single night.'” Michelle starred alongside Glee alum Jonathan Groff in the smash-hit Broadway play.
Ian McKellen
The legendary Sir Ian McKellan went full-frontal nude in the 2007 Broadway production of King Lear. Per Vulture, McKellan is nude for a brief moment with his face hidden by his shirt.
Diana Rigg
Back in 1971, legendary actress Diana Rigg starred in the original Broadway show Abelard and Heloise. She and actor Keith Mitchell stripped down for a passionate love scene, but Rigg received a lot of flak for it. She told Daily Mail, “I was the first major actress to get my knickers down. The reaction was horrible. I did one of the first nude scenes and I got one of the meanest, nastiest notices ever known.” She also added that a critic had the nerve to comment on her breasts, ‘An American critic wrote ‘Diana Rigg is built like a brick mausoleum with insufficient flying buttresses.'”
Audra McDonald
Audra McDonald starred in the Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune 2019 and in the opening scene, she and Michael Shannon performed a nude simulated sex scene. However, an audience member took a flash photography snapshot of the sex scene while the show took place. McDonald tweeted a now-deleted tweet per Page Six, “To whoever it was in the audience that took a flash photo during our nude scene today: Not cool. Not cool at all.”
John Lithgow
In a previous interview with the LA Times,Oscar-nominated actor John Lithgow talked about his Broadway debut in The Changing Room. “My first job on Broadway was The Changing Room in 1973, and it all took place in the locker room of a rugby team. And I had a long scene stark naked on stage. I won a Tony award for that, so I look for every opportunity to take my clothes off ever since. People don’t always necessarily want me to, of course.”
Jude Law
Before his superstardom hit, Jude Law starred in the Broadway play Indiscretions where he had to be completely nude in a bathtub for one scene per Broadway World.
Kathleen Turner
Back in 2002, per Playbill, Kathleen Turner appeared full-frontal nude for her role in The Graduate.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
In 2013, towards the beginning of Phoebe Waller-Bridge‘s career, she starred in a play called Mydidae. The Fleabag star was scared of going nude for the play but quickly felt at ease. She told the BBC, “Jack [Thorne] was commissioned to write a play set in a bathroom so I knew something would be taken off and exposed. He is incredibly classy when it comes to nudity, so I felt very safe in it.”
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris (and former How I Met Your Motherco-star Josh Radnor) performed a nude scene for the play The Paris Letters, per Variety.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Pivoting to some non-actors who once bared it all onstage, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were known for going nude or semi-nude in their concerts in the 80s and 90s. At their Rockpalast show in 1985, for example, the band members performed while only wearing socks over their private parts, per Far Out Magazine.
In 2019, their bassist Flea reflected on the impact of that performance. “There’s the thing with the Chili Peppers: We put socks on our dicks, and we’re never going to outrun it,” he told GQ. “People are always going to think of that. I feel that ultimately the measure of art that we or I created, as good as it is, over time will stand for what it is. The core essence of it, the cerebral part of it—the emotional, spiritual, and physical—are things that will always survive.”
Blink-182
After going fully nude for the “What My Age Again?” music video, Blink-182 embraced their nude era by showing up totally clothesless at the 1999 Billboard Music Awards.
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