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Tom Phelan

Tom Phelan’s acting career includes The Fosters and the Playwrights Horizons production of Hir.

Biography

Tom Phelan is an actor whose work includes Cole in The Fosters and Max in Taylor Mac’s stage play Hir.

Cole in The Fosters and Max in Hir.

Known for

Cole in The Fosters and Max in Hir

Tom Phelan is an actor whose work includes Cole in The Fosters and Max in Taylor Mac’s stage play Hir. The two roles brought a television performer into New York theatre.[1][2][3]

Career highlights

  1. Career 1

    Cole in The Fosters

    Phelan played Cole, a teenager living in a group home, on the ABC Family drama The Fosters. The recurring part placed Cole within the show’s stories about young people navigating care, family and identity.[2][3]

  2. Career 2

    Moving from television to theatre

    After finishing high school, Phelan relocated from Los Angeles to New York for Hir. The production marked an off-Broadway debut at Playwrights Horizons, where it opened in November 2015.[2]

  3. Career 3

    Playing Max

    Taylor Mac’s family drama cast Phelan as Max, a young person at the centre of a household undergoing upheaval. Phelan discussed wanting opportunities to play a wider range of characters after that engagement.[2]

  4. Career 4

    Preparing the audition

    For the first Hir audition, Phelan recorded a tape in a high-school auditorium with a drama teacher reading the other lines. Rehearsals with a parent preceded an in-person session with the production’s creative team in New York.[1]

  5. Career 5

    Training alongside performance

    In a 2016 interview, Phelan was balancing college study with acting. Looking back on Hir, the actor described the importance of complex characters who can be difficult or unlikeable, rather than being restricted to reassuring examples of representation.[1]