"Oh my God," Ben Platt mouthed to his mother before rushing to the stage to give a heartfelt speech after Tina Fey announced his name as winner of Leading Actor in a Musical at the 2017 Tony Awards.
The 23-year-old actor won the prestigious award for his work as the title character in the Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen.
"When I was six years old, I was the prince in Cinderella in a blue sequined vest," the star began one of the most emotional speeches of the night. "I've spent every day since then just madly in love with musical theatre. It's where I've found everything I've ever loved and where I belong."
While it seemed like a cute recalling of a childhood memory, that one performance turned into a whirlwind of opportunity for the award-winning Broadway sweetheart.
Just three years later, at the age of nine Ben would go on to play Winthrop Paroo in The Music Man alongside Broadway royalty Kristin Chenoweth at the Hollywood Bowl.
The California native spent his tween and teen years playing a variety of notable roles and shows. Ben appeared in his first national tour Caroline, or Change at the age of 11 and starred as Jean Valjean at the age of 17 in a youth theatre production of Les Misérables.
"I've dreamed every day since of being on this stage and being part of this community of artists, so this is insane," the actor continued speech.
In 2012, Ben took a slight career pivot and made his film debut in Pitch Perfect. He took on the role of Benji Applebaum, an acapella-loving magician and roommate to the male lead Jesse played by Skylar Astin. Benji warmed viewers' hearts as he fought through adversity—like being called "weird"—and eventually made it into the all-male vocal group Treblemakers and sang B.o.B's "Magic" in their finale number. The performance, while funny, was so touching it earned him a Teen Choice Awards nomination for Choice Movie: Male Scene Stealer.
Then, on January 7, 2014 Ben finally made it to the place he had always dreamed of going: New York City's Broadway. The star made his Broadway debut playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in The Book of Mormon. He stayed in the role for a little over a year before getting into the role that would put him on the Tony stage.
The Dear Evan Hansen actor currently delivers a performance full of heartfelt words, songs, screams, cries and ticks eight times a week. The emotionally and physically demanding show has recently taken a toll on the actor's vocals causing him to take a night off right before the Tonys—where he was able to perform one of the show's most touching numbers "Waving Through a Window."
Fans were understanding and encouraging of his missed performance, but the high-stressed character Ben portrays comes with a lot of work. The actors does weekly physical therapy sessions, cupping therapy (think Michael Phelps) in between matinees and night shows and maintains a gluten and dairy free diet to avoid mucus buildup in his throat and lungs.
Of course, all of the body demands and years of hard work being well worth the effort when he won in the top male category for the night at the seventy-first Tony Awards at the legendary Radio City Music Hall in the heart of New York City.
The Tony winner who started his speech crying had everyone in tears by the end when he finished with, "Finally, to all young people watching at home, don't waste any time trying to be like anybody but yourself because the things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful. Thank you."