A Marvel to Behold
Gideon Glick, native son and star of Étoile and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, is one of a kind.
Gideon Glick is a true original. From portraying a neurotic illusionist in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to playing a high-strung choreographer in Étoile, he has put his stamp on a multilayered career that includes television, film, and Broadway.
The 36-year-old grew up in a theater-loving family in suburban Philadelphia and went to New York once a month to see Broadway shows, which he recalls as a highlight of his childhood. His life as a child actor began in Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater and Prince Music Theater, and provided the foundation for future roles—first on Broadway in Spring Awakening and later in his 2019 Tony-nominated role in To Kill a Mockingbird. His movie roles include White Noise, Marriage Story, and Maestro, with fellow native son Bradley Cooper.
On TV, he inhabited the skin of Alfie, opposite Alex Borstein and Rachel Brosnahan in Maisel, and Tobias alongside Maisel’s Luke Kirby in Étoile, a new ballet-inspired Prime Video series from Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband, Dan Palladino. The series is about two legendary dance companies—one in New York and the other in Paris—that swap several principal dancers and choreographers, including Glick’s character, Tobias. Glick is also a writer/story editor on Étoile.
Q&A
Who is Tobias, your character in Étoile, and how did you figure him out?
Tobias is a brilliant, complicated choreographer. In a fish-out-of-water move, he is sent from New York to Paris to work with a French ballet company. I will say I grew up doing musical theater. I got to work with the modern dance genius Bill T. Jones when I was 17 years old, doing Spring Awakening. Bill is exacting, eccentric, and blunt. I found a lot of Tobias in him. I was also inspired by Ulysses Dove and Paul Taylor. I’ve worked with a lot of passionate and kooky people, and so I found that very informative.
Was it difficult to say goodbye to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?
I was lucky that I knew Étoile was around the corner. So, I knew that I was still going to be working with Amy and Dan, and Luke, and continue to be in that world. It’s interesting, especially as a theater actor, I’m sort of a gypsy. … Maisel was actually the longest I’ve ever worked on anything. But, again, I felt like it wasn’t ending because of Étoile starting right after.
Did you know anything about illusion or magic before you got the part of Alfie?
No. It’s so funny doing Alfie and Tobias because I am not a dancer, and I had to take ballet for Tobias. I trained three days a week in magic and illusions for Alfie. I had that big magic show at the end of the fourth season. They knew it was going to be a show, but they didn’t know exactly what I was going to do. They were just like, “Just learn.” I would ask what they wanted me to learn, and they were, like, “Everything.”
You and your husband, Perry, come from Lower Merion. Do you come home often?
Yes, we were just there for Passover. We did a marathon 24-hour Passover, two Seder events. I have almost my entire family: my sister, my mother, and my father. Everyone is there except my brother, who lives in London. My husband and I both went to Lower Merion summer camp and high school together, so his whole family is also local. When we come home for the holidays, we have four families to negotiate when we go home.
What are some life lessons from your career?
Keep yourself inspired. Even if you are working all the time, you are going to have dormant times. Continuously go to museums, read plays, read books, and write. Even if you’re not good at any of that stuff. Draw. Doing anything that can kind of keep you creative is very important. Not to be myopic about it, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Just be a person of the world. I think that will come through in your work. And be nice to people.
Who is Tobias, your character in Étoile, and how did you figure him out?
Tobias is a brilliant, complicated choreographer. In a fish-out-of-water move, he is sent from New York to Paris to work with a French ballet company. I will say I grew up doing musical theater. I got to work with the modern dance genius Bill T. Jones when I was 17 years old, doing Spring Awakening. Bill is exacting, eccentric, and blunt. I found a lot of Tobias in him. I was also inspired by Ulysses Dove and Paul Taylor. I’ve worked with a lot of passionate and kooky people, and so I found that very informative.
Was it difficult to say goodbye to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?
I was lucky that I knew Étoile was around the corner. So, I knew that I was still going to be working with Amy and Dan, and Luke, and continue to be in that world. It’s interesting, especially as a theater actor, I’m sort of a gypsy. … Maisel was actually the longest I’ve ever worked on anything. But, again, I felt like it wasn’t ending because of Étoile starting right after.
Did you know anything about illusion or magic before you got the part of Alfie?
No. It’s so funny doing Alfie and Tobias because I am not a dancer, and I had to take ballet for Tobias. I trained three days a week in magic and illusions for Alfie. I had that big magic show at the end of the fourth season. They knew it was going to be a show, but they didn’t know exactly what I was going to do. They were just like, “Just learn.” I would ask what they wanted me to learn, and they were, like, “Everything.”
You and your husband, Perry, come from Lower Merion. Do you come home often?
Yes, we were just there for Passover. We did a marathon 24-hour Passover, two Seder events. I have almost my entire family: my sister, my mother, and my father. Everyone is there except my brother, who lives in London. My husband and I both went to Lower Merion summer camp and high school together, so his whole family is also local. When we come home for the holidays, we have four families to negotiate when we go home.
What are some life lessons from your career?
Keep yourself inspired. Even if you are working all the time, you are going to have dormant times. Continuously go to museums, read plays, read books, and write. Even if you’re not good at any of that stuff. Draw. Doing anything that can kind of keep you creative is very important. Not to be myopic about it, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Just be a person of the world. I think that will come through in your work. And be nice to people.
Photo by Philippe Antonello/Prime Video
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life, June 2025.
