Jose Llana (born 5 May 1976) is a Filipino-American singer and actor best known for originating roles in the Broadway musicals The King and I (1996), Flower Drum Song (2002), Here Lies Love (2023), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), the latter for which he won the 2005 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.
During his freshman year he was discovered in an audition for the 1996 Revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and made his Broadway debut as Lun Tha starring opposite Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy.
[3][4] He went on to star on Broadway as Angel in Rent, Jessie-Lee in Streetcorner Symphony, Wang Ta in Flower Drum Song opposite Lea Salonga, and as Chip Tolentino in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee[5] for which he and his cast won a 2005 Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble Performance.
Llana starred as El Gato in Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure, which began performances on Broadway March 21, 2011 and officially opened on April 17, 2011.
[7] Llana has portrayed Ferdinand Marcos (2014 Lucille Lortel Award Nomination, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical) in David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim's Here Lies Love, directed by Alex Timbers, since the workshop production at Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA during the summer of 2012.