Raised on Long Island, von Essen is a graduate of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York.
A son of Rita and Thomas Von Essen, who was the New York City Fire Commissioner during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he is the youngest of four children.
[4] He appeared in Les Misérables on Broadway as the replacement for Fauchelevent and other roles,[5] and starred in Dance of the Vampires alongside Michael Crawford in 2002.
He performed in the national tour of Xanadu as "Sonny" in 2008[8] and in the Roundabout Theater Company Off-Broadway production of Maury Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday at the Laura Pels Theatre in 2011.
[9] In 2015, von Essen played the role of Parisian aristocrat Henri in the Broadway production of An American in Paris, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination.