Biography
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is an American actor, playwright, and voice actor. Fierstein has won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his own play Torch Song Trilogy (about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family) and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. He also wrote the book for the musical La Cage aux Folles, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, and wrote the book for the Tony Award-winning "Kinky Boot...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Bros
2022
as Louis
Two emotionally unavailable men attempt a relationship.

Shoshana Bean and Friends: An Evening of Broadway
2020
as Performer
You are invited to join recording artist and Broadway star Shoshana Bean and her cast of friends for a musical evening of Broadway tunes.

Disarm Hate
2020
as Narrator
Nine LGBTQs come together after the Pulse Massacre to join one man, a hairdresser and activist from New Jersey without political experience, as he bui...

Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles
2019
as Himself
The origin story behind one of Broadway's most beloved musicals, Fiddler on The Roof, and its creative roots in early 1960s New York, when "tradition"...

Kinky Boots: The Musical
2019
Musical, Writer
Charlie is a factory owner struggling to save his family business, and Lola is a fabulous entertainer with a wildly exciting idea. With a little compa...

Funny Girl
2018
Musical, Writer
The life of Fanny Brice, who rose from the Lower East Side of New York to become one of Broadway's biggest stars under producer Florenz Ziegfield. Whi...

Animal Crackers
2017
as Esmerelda (voice)
A family must use a magical box of Animal Crackers to save a rundown circus from being taken over by their evil uncle Horatio P. Huntington.

Newsies
2017
Musical
A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze ...

Hairspray Live!
2016
as Edna Turnblad
A teenage girl living in Baltimore in the early 1960s dreams of appearing on a popular TV dance show.

Hairspray Live!
2016
Teleplay
A teenage girl living in Baltimore in the early 1960s dreams of appearing on a popular TV dance show.

The Wiz Live!
2015
Writer
Winner of 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Wiz was a massive Broadway hit which spawned a dismal feature film starring Diana Ross and Michae...

The Making of the Wiz Live!
2015
as Self
Go behind the curtain in The Land of Oz with NBC's "The Making of The Wiz Live!" The hour-long special will give an exclusive backstage look at this h...

Russian Broadway Shut Down
2014
Citing homosexual propaganda law, Russian government outlaws theatrical performance. The Russian Broadway community responds.

Foodfight!
2012
as Fat Cat Burglar (voice)
The evil Brand X joins a supermarket that becomes a city after closing time.

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway
2007
as Self
ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway is an American documentary film, directed by Dori Berinstein, a Broadway Producer, Writer and Filmmaker. Berinstei...

Words and Music by Jerry Herman
2007
as Self
WORDS AND MUSIC is the story of one of Broadway's iconic figures: the composer/lyricist of Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles. Jerry Herman an...

The Year Without a Santa Claus
2006
as Heat Miser
Thoroughly disgruntled, Santa opts to take a year off from delivering presents, until a young man helps him rediscover the meaning of the holidays.

Farce of the Penguins
2006
as Sheila (voice)
In this spoof of "March of the Penguins," nature footage of penguins near the South Pole gets a soundtrack of human voices. Carl and Jimmy, best frien...

The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
as Host
The Great White Way comes into your living room via this disc of rare performances from some of Broadway's brightest luminaries. Culled from clips fro...

Broadway's Lost Treasures III: The Best of The Tony Awards
2005
as Self - Host
Broadway royalty and Tony-winners Tommy Tune, Carol Channing, Robert Goulet, and Harvey Fierstein are your hosts for this third compilation of great m...

Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde
2004
as Self
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's birth, 150 leading artists of the stage, screen and music worlds deliver 150 of the Irish scribe...

Mulan II
2004
as Yao (voice)
Fa Mulan gets the surprise of her young life when her love, Captain Li Shang asks for her hand in marriage. Before the two can have their happily ever...

Superstar in a Housedress: The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis
2004
as Self
Andy Warhol described Jackie Curtis as “A pioneer without a frontier.” In this biographical documentary, Curtis’s co-workers and friends speak of her ...

Happy to Be Nappy and Other Stories of Me
2004
as Self (voice)
Today there are more reasons than ever for families to explore and celebrate diversity. Our ever-expanding world is full of differences in abilities, ...

Duplex
2003
as Kenneth
When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!

The Golden Girls: Lifetime Intimate Portrait Series
2003
as Self
Lifetime's "Intimate Portrait" series shines a spotlight on the Golden Girls -- Bea Arthur, Betty White, Estelle Getty and Rue McClanahan -- with a co...
Death to Smoochy: Behind the Scenes Documentary
2002
as Self
A short documentary about the making of Danny Devito’s film Death to Smoochy.

Death to Smoochy
2002
as Merv Green
Tells the story of Rainbow Randolph, the corrupt, costumed star of a popular children's TV show, who is fired over a bribery scandal and replaced by s...

Rescued from the Closet
2001
as Self
Rescued from the Closet is a 2001 documentary consisting of interviews originally recorded for the 1995 film The Celluloid Closet. It explores the his...

Playing Mona Lisa
2000
as Bennett
A young pianist is looking for love in all the wrong places once her fiancee drops her. Maybe her flame will be rekindled both for the piano and a new...

Common Ground
2000
as Don
This movie contains three short stories dealing with the theme of homosexuality. In "A Friend of Dorothy", a woman joins the Navy during the 1950's an...

Common Ground
2000
Writer
This movie contains three short stories dealing with the theme of homosexuality. In "A Friend of Dorothy", a woman joins the Navy during the 1950's an...

The Sissy Duckling
1999
as Elmer (voice)
Elmer, a sensitive duckling whose schoolmates tease him. However, after his unusual talents help him save a life, the other members of the flock learn...

The Sissy Duckling
1999
Writer
Elmer, a sensitive duckling whose schoolmates tease him. However, after his unusual talents help him save a life, the other members of the flock learn...

Double Platinum
1999
as Gary Millstein
The story of a mother driven to reach the heights of superstardom at the cost of abandoning her only child.

Jump
1999
as Dish Macense
Friends try to dissuade a suicidal man from jumping off a ledge, but they are not much better off than he is.

Safe Men
1998
as Good Stuff Leo
Two untalented singers are mistaken for a pair of major league safe crackers in Providence, Rhode Island. The two are pressed into service by the loca...

Mulan
1998
as Yao (voice)
To save her father from certain death in the army, a young woman secretly enlists in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the pro...

Kull the Conqueror
1997
as Juba
A barbarian named Kull becomes ruler after defeating the old king in battle. In an effort to regain the throne, the former king's heirs resurrect Akiv...

White Lies
1997
as Art Hoarder
A museum worker pretends to be an artist in order to impress women. When an attractive assistant director of a SoHo art gallery overhears him, she off...
Three Little Pigs
1997
as The Big Bad Wolf (voice)
A vegan wolf moves in with the Three Pigs in a parody of MTV's Real World.

Sesame Street: Elmo Saves Christmas
1996
as Easter Bunny
Can there be such a thing as too much Christmas? Find out... when a magical Christmas wish is granted and Elmo gets to see what the world would be lik...

Everything Relative
1996
as The Moyle
Old college chums get together for a weekend reunion that is bound to open old wounds and perhaps heal them. New romances find a spark while old ones ...

The Making of 'Independence Day'
1996
as Self
We take a look at various fields of development for the motion picture, Independence Day (1996). Jeff Goldblum is our guide through 'Area ID4' (a rip-...

Independence Day
1996
as Marty Gilbert
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it ...

The Celluloid Closet
1996
as Self
What "That's Entertainment" did for movie musicals, "The Celluloid Closet" does for Hollywood homosexuality, as this exuberant, eye-opening movie serv...

Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde
1995
as Yves DuBois
A scientist creating perfumes inherits his great grandfather Dr. Jekyll's formula and decides to use modern technology to improve it. He ends up as an...

Bullets Over Broadway
1994
as Sid Loomis
After young playwright, David Shayne obtains funding for his play from gangster Nick Valenti, Nick's girlfriend Olive miraculously lands the role of a...

Stonewall 25: Global Voices of Pride and Protest
1994
Finished a quarter century after the earth-shaking protests that forever altered the public perception of LGBTQ people in America, Stonewall 25: Globa...

Mrs. Doubtfire
1993
as Frank
Loving but irresponsible dad Daniel Hillard, estranged from his exasperated spouse, is crushed by a court order allowing only weekly visits with his k...

The Harvest
1993
as Bob Lakin
A screenwriter is sent to Mexico to develop a story that can be used to wrap up a movie presently in production. Given a very short time allotment, th...

An Evening with Lily Tomlin and Friends
1993
as Self
On January 22, 1993 at the historic Castro Theater in San Francisco, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams, Harvey Fierstein, Marga Gomez, and Lypsinka performe...

In The Shadow Of Love: A Teen AIDS Story
1991
as Andrew
Two high school journalists write a story about a teen HIV support group, and are stunned by some of the stories they hear.

The American Film Institute Presents: TV or Not TV?
1990
as Self
Novice writers from a writers workshop wrote the show's sketches.

Torch Song Trilogy
1988
as Arnold Beckoff
Arnold is a gay man working as a drag queen in 1971 NYC. He meets a handsome bisexual man.

Torch Song Trilogy
1988
Theatre Play, Screenplay
Arnold is a gay man working as a drag queen in 1971 NYC. He meets a handsome bisexual man.

Tidy Endings
1988
as Arthur
A man, whose companion dies of AIDS, confronts his lover's ex-wife and the two end up building a friendship while coping with the emotional aftermath ...

Tidy Endings
1988
Theatre Play, Teleplay
A man, whose companion dies of AIDS, confronts his lover's ex-wife and the two end up building a friendship while coping with the emotional aftermath ...

MaMa's Pushcart
1988
With virtually no financial resources, Ellen Stewart created the La Mama theater in New York in 1961, where writers and actors such as Sam Shepard, El...

Apology
1986
as The derelict
For her upcoming exhibition, "Apology," Lily, a New York conceptual artist, is designing a sound and sculpture installation inspired by the testimony ...

Garbo Talks
1984
as Bernie Whitlock
When New York accountant Gilbert Rolfe finds out his mother has a brain tumor, he is devastated. His incorrigible mother, Estelle, has one last wish: ...

The Times of Harvey Milk
1984
as Narrator (voice)
Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassina...

The Demon Murder Case
1983
as The Demon (voice)
A young boy is taken over by demons who force him to commit murder.