Eden Prairie native is under acting’s spell

John Skelley can trace the call of the theater all the way back to second grade at Prairie View Elementary School, when he was cast as Leo the Lion in a class production of “It’s a Jungle Out There.”

“I asked the teacher if the song was going to be a solo,” he recalled. “I told her I thought it should be.”

Following the performance, the budding thespian told his teacher he wanted to address the audience. He thanked everyone for coming and credited his teacher for all her hard work on the production. “I don’t know who that little person was,” Skelley said with a laugh. “He was so confident.”

Skelley may have lost some of that youthful bravado over the years, but he hasn’t lost his love for the theater. The Eden Prairie native is starring as the titular character in the national touring version of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” The show is playing through Feb. 1 at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in Chicago.

Drawn to the stage

After acting a bit in middle school, Skelley drifted away from theater in favor of hockey and football. But then a performance of “The Music Man” at Eden Prairie High School changed everything. “It was my freshman year and I remember I went to it with my dad,” Skelley recalled. “It was their closing performance and it was sold out. I saw it and it just hit me. I said, ‘Oh, I should be in this. I need to do this.'” The next year, Skelley traded sports for the stage.

“I can’t say enough about my love for (Eden Prairie High School’s) theater program,” he said. “Rolf Olson, Julie Kanthak, Susie Sime, Linda Wallenberg. I’m so grateful for all of them.”

Despite his love of acting, Skelley knew pursuing it as a career would be difficult. “I didn’t know if it was a viable option,” he said. A career day presenter changed his mind. “She said, ‘I think you can do it.’ And that was all I needed, an extra little push.”

After graduating from Eden Prairie High School in 2003, Skelley pursued a BFA at the University of Minnesota through the Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program. He stayed at the Guthrie for a time, acting in 16 productions, including a stint as the understudy for Hamlet in the Guthrie’s final production at its previous location next to the Walker Art Center. He also appeared in a production of “A Christmas Carol,” where he met Maren Searle, the woman who would become his wife.

“It was the last time we worked together,” he said. “Until Harry Potter.”

Skelley said the Guthrie became his artistic home. “I was really lucky and fortunate that there was a place for me there at that time,” he said. But it wouldn’t be his forever home.

Ten years ago – the same summer he got married – Skelley moved to New York. “I always had the itch,” he said. “I told myself, ‘You’ve got to go try it, see what you can do.'”

Since then, Skelley has performed in both on- and off-Broadway productions, as well as in film and television, including commercial voiceovers. He has also narrated audiobooks.

Picking up the wand

In 2018, Skelley joined the cast of the Broadway production of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” as the understudy for Harry Potter. In 2019, he was cast as Harry Potter in the West Coast production of the same show at San Francisco’s Curran Theater. It is a role he has now played off and on for the last five years.

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” takes place nearly two decades after the events of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and follows a now-adult Harry Potter as he navigates life as both a savior and a parent. “This is a dense and complicated world and characters,” said Skelley. “There’s some juicy material to draw on.”

Skelley admits he was “pretty late to the game” when it comes to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. “I didn’t read the books until I was an understudy for the Broadway show,” he said. But despite that, Skelley understands the draw.

“People grew up with these characters,” he said. “I’m enthralled with that.

“And if you were a fan of the books when they came out, then you’re about the same age as Harry – approaching your 40s – and maybe dealing with some of the same things.”

For the younger audience members, Skelley loves the idea that this may be their first time at a live production. “We’re introducing kids to the world of theater,” he said. “I love that. There’s something really special about a live show.”

Skelley said this show is particularly special because of the plethora of special effects involved. “It’s crazy how many people are involved to pull this off every night,” he said. “The first time I saw it in New York, there were moments I felt like my stomach had dropped out of my body. It’s not a magic show, it’s a play, but I’d get so focused on how they did something that I’d miss part of the story. It keeps you riveted.”

So far, Chicago theatergoers have approved.

“The audiences have been really great,” Skelley said, noting that several former theater and choir teachers have made the trek from Eden Prairie to the Windy City to see the production. “It means a lot to have them see the show,” he said.