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Who is Anthony Rapp? 7 things to know about the actor, singer

Actor Anthony Rapp has accused fellow actor Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old and Spacey was 26.

The allegations, published in BuzzFeed late Sunday, detail the encounter at a party inside Spacey's Manhattan apartment.

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Rapp told BuzzFeed Spacey “picked Rapp up, placed him on his bed and climbed on top of him.”

Spacey, now 58, issued a controversial apology late Sunday, tweeting he didn’t remember the encounter, but owed him “the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

Spacey, whose “sexual orientation has been a matter of public fascination and speculation for decades,” BuzzFeed reported, also used the statement to come out as a gay man and was slammed by many for doing so.

1. He was born in Illinois

Rapp was born on Oct. 26, 1971, to Mary Lee and Douglas Rapp, and has an older brother, Adam.

He grew up in Joliet, Illinois, and was raised by his mother, a nurse, after his parents’ divorce.

In 1997, Rapp’s mother died of cancer at age 55.

2. He started his career at the age of six

Rapp's first Broadway performance was in 1981 (age 9) for the musical, "The Little Prince and the Aviator," based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novel, "The Little Prince."

3. He’s best known for his role in the popular Broadway musical, “Rent.”

Rapp played the character Mark Cohen in the off-Broadway and original Broadway casts of Jonathan Larson’s musical, “Rent.”

The film adaptation of “Rent” was released in 2005.

According to IMDb, his character of Mark Cohen is the revised version of the character Marcello in the opera “La Bohème.”

4. He’s a huge fan of R.E.M. and has his own rock band

For his “Rent” audition, Rapp even sang the ever-popular REM song, “Losing My Religion.”

Rapp also heads a rock band named AlbinoKid, which, he told the New York Daily News in 2008, has covered original tunes along with "Rent" songs and covers from R.E.M. and Radiohead.

“I personally don't gravitate to more traditional musical theater,” Rapp said. “I love theater that is a little more adventurous. I always say getting involved with 'Rent' was the fulfillment of two big fantasies: I got to star in a show on Broadway, but I also got to be in a rock band in a way. And when ['Rent'] was over, I really missed the rock band part. So, I made one of my own.”

5. He plays Lt. Stamets on “Star Trek: Discovery”

Lt. Stamets, an anastromycologist (fungus expert) is the first openly gay character in the franchise’s 51-year history.

Read more at EW.com.

6. He identifies as queer

Though Rapp was referred to as "one of the first openly gay men on Broadway" in 2012 by periodical Metro Weekly, Rapp told Oasis Magazine in 1997 that he's never labeled himself except to say that he's queer.

“The thing that’s been most important to me to be out about is that I have been in loving relationships with men ... I haven’t said ‘I am gay.’ Because the truth is that I’ve also been in love with women, although the truth is I do think I’m primarily homosexual,” he said.

The multi-faceted term “queer” is often used to encompass any identity that isn’t straight or cisgender.

"Historically, queer has been used as an epithet/slur against people whose gender, gender expression and/or sexuality do not conform to dominant expectations," according to the University of California-Davis' LGBTQIA resource center. "Some people have reclaimed the word queer and self identify as such. For some, this reclamation is a celebration of not fitting into norms/being 'abnormal.'"

7. Rapp also had notable acting or performing roles in:

  • "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" (1999)
  • "If/Then" (2014)
  • "Dazed and Confused" (1993)
  • "A Beautiful Mind" (2001)
  • "Psych" (2013)