Reeve Carney was born and raised in the West Village area of Manhattan with his brother Zane and sister Paris.

At the age of 8, he was chosen to sing in a live performance and video at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall with Peter, Paul and Mary.

He went on to study at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, majoring in studio jazz guitar.

[3][5] When living in California, Carney released his first EP Looking Glass in 2004 and promoted it by performing with other musicians, including Jonny Lang.

[8] Carney also recorded the single "Rise Above 1" with Bono and The Edge in 2011, an adapted song from the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

[9] Apart from making his own music, Carney also wrote songs for soundtracks for films such as The Tempest (2010) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (2012).

[16] Carney made his first appearance on the big screen in the film The Saint of Fort Washington (1993) with a small role.

During the auditions, Bono and The Edge, the show's musical composers, were surprised by Carney's vocals and he ended up being chosen for the role.

[23][24] During the filming of the last season of Penny Dreadful, Carney was on Kenny Ortega's radar to play Riff Raff, the Handyman, on Fox's remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[27] Carney continued with the musical for its run at the Royal National Theatre in 2018 and reprised the role in the Broadway production, which began previews on March 22 and opened on April 17, 2019.

He's set to reprise the role for his West End debut from February to March 2025 for a limited engagement opposite his original Broadway cast co-stars Noblezada, Page, Amber Gray and Andre de Shields.