The stars of the 2017 The Greatest Showman cast helped ride the movie to commercial success. Although the movie received average critical reviews, it easily grossed $435 million at the Box Office from an $84 million production budget. Also, The Greatest Showman was Australian filmmaker Michael Gracey‘s feature directorial debut.
The 2017 biographical musical drama was depicted as a fictionalized version of American showman and entertainer P. T. Barnum. It follows Barnum’s creations of his famous traveling circus company Barnum & Bailey Circus, as well as the personal and professional lives of the company’s attractions. With almost 7 years since the movie’s premiere in December 2017, these were the top, full The Greatest Showman cast and their corresponding roles.
Hugh Jackman as P. T. Barnum
In this fictionalized depiction of P.T. Barnum’s story, Academy Award-nominated Australian actor Hugh Jackman portrayed Barnum. In The Greatest Showman, Barnum was a visionary and ambitious showman who rose from poverty to create the renowned Barnum & Bailey Circus. Jackman’s portrayal of Barnum’s charisma, passion, and determination was captivating.
Throughout the movie, Barnum’s struggle to balance his pursuit of success with his desire for acceptance from high society and his own family makes him lose it all. However, Barnum manages to pick himself up and become the greatest showman. Hugh Jackman’s performance brings out the complexity of Barnum’s character, showcasing both his magnetic charm and his inner struggles. Hugh Jackman is famous for portraying the Marvel comics superhero Wolverine in MCU movies.
Zac Efron as Phillip Carlyle
Zac Efron joined The Greatest Showman’s cast in a supporting role as Phillip Carlyle. The character is a wealthy and privileged young man who becomes involved with P.T. Barnum’s circus and is introduced as a playwright. Phillip Carlyle is initially drawn to the circus out of curiosity and adventure. However, he soon becomes enamored with the performers and their sense of freedom and acceptance within the circus community.
Phillip’s storyline also followed his romantic relationship with African American trapeze artist Anne Wheeler. He ultimately finds himself grappling with love, identity, and social acceptance issues. About a decade before The Greatest Showman was released, Zac Efron rose to prominence as a teen idol, riding on the success of the High School Musical trilogy movies.
Michelle Williams as Charity Hallett-Barnum
Five-time Academy Award-nominated American actress Michelle Williams was also part of The Greatest Showman cast. Williams portrayed P.T. Barnum’s wife, Charity Hallett-Barnum. Charity is portrayed as Barnum’s contented wife who finds happiness in her young family’s humble life. Although she supports Barnum’s ambitions, she leaves him briefly after he’s photographed kissing Jenny Lind. Before The Greatest Showman, Michelle Williams was known for playing Jen Lindley in the teen drama series Dawson’s Creek (1998–2003) and Alma Beers Del Mar in the 2005 Brokeback Mountain. She also starred in My Week with Marilyn (2011), Shutter Island (2010), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).
Rebecca Ferguson as Jenny Lind
Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson portrayed fellow Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind, dubbed the Swedish Nightingale. In The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum convinced Jenny Lind to tour America while being contracted as her manager to help expand his business and social influence. Although Barnum and Jenny Lind’s partnership was successful, she eventually developed a romantic interest in him.
After he rejects her advances, a surprise kiss from Jenny after a performance almost causes Barnum to lose his family. Jenny Lind ultimately cancels her tour, ending her contract with Barnum. Although her international breakthrough role was in the 2013 British drama The White Queen, Rebecca Ferguson is famous for playing MI6 agent Ilsa Faust in the Mission: Impossible films and, more recently, in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies.
Zendaya as Anne Wheeler
Hollywood sweetheart Zendaya was also a part of The Greatest Showman’s cast. The actress made her debut as Spider-Man’s love interest, Michelle, six months before The Greatest Showman’s release. Although the 2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming became her film breakthrough role, Zendaya was also phenomenal as Anne Wheeler in The Greatest Showman.
Besides being one of P.T. Barnum’s star attractions as a trapeze artist, Zendaya’s Anne Wheeler’s character was Zac Efron’s character’s love interest. Seven years after The Greatest Showman, Zendaya is one of Hollywood’s most successful actresses of her generation. She also co-starred alongside Rebecca Ferguson in the Dune movies and recently appeared in the 2024 romantic sports drama Challengers.
P.T. Barnum’s Other Star Attractions
Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II also played a supporting role in The Greatest Showman. He was cast as W.D. Wheeler, the older brother of Zendaya’s character. Like Anne Wheeler, W.D. Wheeler was also a part of the attractions at Barnum & Bailey Circus, where he performed as an acrobat. Actress and singer Keala Settle and New Zealand-born actor Sam Humphrey portrayed the bearded lady Lettie Lutz and dwarf General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton).
Australian actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo played Chinese acrobat and blade specialist Deng Yan. Additionally, Luciano Acuna Jr. portrayed Dog Boy; Eric Anderson played the former pickpocket Mr. O’Malley; Shannon Holtzapffel played the Tattooed Man, Captain Constentenus, and Radu Spinghel played the circus giant Vasily “O’Clancy” Karpov. The albino and Siamese Twins were played by Caoife Coleman, Mishay Petronelli, Danial Son, and Yusaku Komori, respectively. Besides 2017 The Greatest Showman, the war drama Jarhead and its cast turns 20 in 2025.
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