Although his current gig as one of Broadways' fastest-rising talents has seen him in exotic locales-wooing the women in 1950's Italy and building the barricades in the 18th Century France - Aaron Lazar is really just a Jersey boy at heart.

"I'm a proud New Jersey-ian," he boasts.  "Everybody's embarrassed of it, but I love it.  I grew up in Cherry Hill, right outside of Philadelphia."  Even though he now calls Manhattan home, Lazar is still rooting for his hometown teams.  "All my allegiances are to Philly sports- the Philadelphia Flyers, the Eagels... Philadelphia sports fans are notorious around the world for being the craziest fans ever.  When our teams are not doing well, you're gonna hear from us!"

Sports were passed onto Lazar at a young age by his father Paul, a one-time track star who now coached his son's soccer team.  "I played soccer, football, baseball...  And when I was 12, my dad taught me how to throw a discus," Lazar remembers.  "I don't know how many 12 year olds learn that skill!"  A skinny, gawky teem, Lazar took to the ancient sport, developing skills that he soon realized could prove valuable when looking into colleges: "All the ivy league schools are looking for a good weight man to throw discus, shot, and javelin."

Lazar could also sing and was exposed to the performing arts as well, even if he never thought such talents could lead to a career.  "My uncle was an actor," he recalls.  "And when I was nine, my parents said, 'Do you want to be in a community theater production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?'  I was like, 'Are there going to be girls there?  Ok, I'll do it!'"  The attention of the opposite sex as well as the thrill of the big opening night party his parents threw in his honor definitely got Lazar's attention.  "All my friends were there and there was a lot of candy.  I guess I associated performing with being rewarded early on."

Lazar continued to receive encouragement whenever he took to the stage, winning the 5th grade talent show with a rendition of the Beach Boys' "California Girls," landing leads in high school musicals (Tony in West Side Story, Julian Marsh in 42nd Street) and competing in multiple championship high school choirs.  "I started to put two and two together," he says.  "Performing was a rush."

When he started to look into colleges, his recognition as a star athlete (Lazar was ranked 12th in the state of New Jersey as a discus and javelin thrower by senior year) opened the doors to many schools.

It didn't take long for Lazar to fall in love with the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.  "Their discus circle was in the stadium that held 30,000 people.  I pictured 30,000 screaming fans cheering me on while I competed.  It was going to be like the Coliseum in Rome!  Little did I know that maybe 200 people showed up at track meets!"

No matter -- track took a back seat once Lazar settled in at Duke.  Instead, his days were busy with formal training in classical voice (part of the requirements of a music scholarship he received) and a rigorous science curriculum, as Lazar ultimately planned to head off to medical school following graduation to be a doctor.  By his junior year, he found himself gravitating towards the busy Duke drama department, signing up for acting classes and getting cast in productions like Carousel (as Billy Bigelow no less!), Orpheus Descending and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Although he went ahead and took the MCAT's (a must to get into med school... and he scored well!), Lazar enrolled in a full scholarship two-year master's program at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with newfound dreams of making it on Broadway.  "My professor said, 'You're pretty good at this,'" he remembers.  "I laughed at him and thought, 'Why not give it a shot?'"

With his MCAT score still valid for a year after his studies in Cincinnati, Lazar hit New York with a specific goal: "I had one year to get work as an actor or else I was off to med school."  After landing an audition for legendary producer Hal Prince to play young lover Raoul in the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, Lazar instead saw the job go to another actor from a foreign production of the show.  Still, Prince cast Lazar several months later as an understudy for Raoul.  But his first steps on a Broadway stage in the ensemble of one of Phantom's elaborate opera scenes was far from glamorous: "I was in a one-piece brown pajama suit pulling an elephant with a hood over my head going, 'Wow.  This is Broadway?'"  It was far from a glorious Broadway debut!

After a stint understudying another prime Broadway role (Curly in Trevor Nunn's Oklahoma! revival), Lazar landed a part that would bring him to the attention of the New York theater community: Fabrizio in The Light in the Piazzaat Lincoln Center.  He spent 10 months as the incredibly romantic leading man in the Tony Award winning musical, an experience he says was unlike any other.  "Everyone on that stage was telling the story straight from their hearts, eight times a week," he explains.  "That's what audiences deserve.  An authentic, artistic experience that challenges them to open their hearts and to feel.  It was one of the greatest experiences in the theater I've ever had."

Lazar experienced a rare treat on June 15, 2006, when PBS's Live at Lincoln Center broadcasted a performance of The Light in the Piazza.

By the time Piazza closed, Lazar was already cast in the Broadway revival of Les Miserablesin the flag-waving role of revolutionary student Enjolras.  "The show is so powerful -- it's sort of biblical in a sense.  And it's filled with so many passionate characters!  To get to play Enjolras, one of the most passionate of them all, it's thrilling!"