Biographie
Nominated for the 2024 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and winner of the ACOR Award for his solo play SMALL, based on his real-life experience as a racehorse jockey.
Robert Montano grew up in Hempstead, Long Island, near Belmont Park Racetrack, where he began his career as a professional racehorse jockey. After a change in direction, he transitioned into the entertainment industry, swapping riding boots for ballet slippers. He has since collaborated with renowned directors and choreographers such as Hal Prince, Rob Marshall, and Jerome Robbins. Montano had the privilege of working alongside the legendary Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman and her show Chita Plus Two. He also sang and danced with Peter Allen in Legs Diamond and starred as Ozzie on Broadway in On The Town, directed by George C. Wolfe. Expanding beyond musical theatre, he ventured into plays, film, and television.
Montano has originated roles in works by Academy Award-nominated writer José Rivera, including The Hours Are Feminine, Cloud Tectonics, and References to Salvador Dalí Makes Me Hot. He has also performed in Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation, Bess Wohl’s Barcelona, Tira Palmquist’s Two Degrees, Ken Lin’s Fallow, Richard Vetere’s One Shot One Kill, and Edwin Sánchez’s Diosa. At Actors Theatre of Louisville, he was honored to portray Cal in the epic East of Eden, directed by Jon Jory, and later returned to perform Shakespeare in Comedy of Errors. Additionally, he played Ralph opposite John C. Reilly in Marty.
