All You Need To Know About Joel Grey: Bio, Age, Career, Net Worth, Family
Robert King
Updated on January 04, 2026
Who is Joel Grey?
American actor, photographer and singer, Joel Grey was born on April 11, 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States of America.
Grey was born to Goldie “Grace” Katz and Mickey Katz. He shares the same parents with his brother, Ronald A. Katz.
He is most remembered for playing the Master of Ceremonies in both the 1972 film adaptation and the Broadway production of the musical Cabaret. He has won a Golden Globe, a Tony, and an Academy Award.
Additionally, he created the roles of the Wizard of Oz in the musical Wicked and George M. Cohan in the 1968 musical George M!.
In the Broadway revivals of Anything Goes and Chicago, he also played the roles of Moonface Martin and Amos Hart, respectively.
Joel Grey nationality
Grey was born in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States of America. He is an American.
Joel Grey age
Grey was born April 11, 1932, hence he is currently 91 years of age.
Joel Grey net worth
Grey has a net worth estimated to be about $10 million.
Joel Grey height and weight
Grey stands at height of 5 feet 5 inches and weighs 72kg.
Joel Grey education
Grey attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California.
Joel Grey career
In the early 1940s, Grey began his career as a young actor in the Cleveland Play House’s Curtain Pullers children’s theater program. He made appearances in shows like Grandmother Slyboots, Jack of Tarts, and On Borrowed Time on their mainstage.
He began performing as a featured act at the Copacabana nightclub in New York in 1952, when he was 20 years old. Early in his career, he changed his last name from Katz to Grey to avoid the stigma related to having a surname with a clear ethnic connotation.
Grey had multiple TV western appearances in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Maverick (1959), Bronco (1960), and Lawman (3 times in 1960 and 1961).
Grey won a Tony Award in 1966 for creating the Master of Ceremonies role in the Broadway musical Cabaret.
In March 1973, Grey received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work as the Master of Ceremonies in the Cabaret movie from the previous year.
Although The Godfather won the Best Picture Oscar, Bob Fosse’s victory was part of a near-sweep for Cabaret, which also saw Liza Minnelli win Best Actress and Bob Fosse wins Best Director.
Grey won a Tony Award for his stage performance six years earlier, making him one of only ten individuals to have won both a Tony Award and an Academy Award for the same role.
He also won a BAFTA award for “The Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles” and Best Supporting Actor accolades from the Golden Globes, Kansas City Film Critics Circle, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, National Society of Film Critics, and the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
He has appeared at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in performances as Joey Evans in Pal Joey (1983), George M. Cohan in George M! (1970 and 1992), and the Emcee in Cabaret.
In the 1977 performance of Platonov at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Grey portrayed the title role. Grey participated as a panelist on What’s My Line? during the 1967 season and served as the show’s first Mystery Guest in 1968 when it was shown nationally.
Grey has recurrent television appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as the wicked reptile demon Doc, 2001), Oz (as Lemuel Idzik, 2003), and Alias (as “Another Mr. Sloane”, 2005). Grey played Oldrich Novy in the movie Dancer in the Dark in 2000.
In the spring of 2011, Grey made a comeback to Broadway in the role of Moonface Martin in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Anything Goes production at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
Additionally, he portrayed Ned in Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart during its 1985 Off-Broadway run before helping to co-direct its 2011 Tony Award-winning revival.
Fiddler on the Roof was staged in Yiddish in 2018 under the direction of Grey. It was originally performed at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene before moving to Stage 42 Off-Broadway.
The show was an unexpected success, playing for more than a year, and taking both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Best Musical Revival in 2019.
Joel Grey family and siblings
Grey was born to Goldie “Grace” Katz and Mickey Katz. He shares the same parents with his brother, Ronald A. Katz.
Joel Grey wife
Grey was previously married to the actress, Jo Wilder but divorced in 1982.
Joel Grey children
Grey has two children; Jennifer Grey and James Grey.
Joel Grey social media
Source:
