When First I Met… Reeve Carney

Reeve Carney by Kerry Payne

Secret: Reeve Carney is not a Broadway actor. Or he didn’t start out as one, at least.

The first time I saw him, though, he was indeed playing on a New York stage. And at the time, you’d never have guessed at his future as a Broadway leading man, mostly because he was huddled under a hat, playing guitar in Jonny Lang’s backup band. And I remember noticing him for one reason: He seemed way too pretty to be there.

To understand this, you need to know a bit about Jonny Lang, the actual leading man onstage that night. A blues guitar prodigy from Fargo, Minnesota, Jonny had a multi-platinum-selling album when he was 15. Until 2005 or so, his band mostly consisted of… well… a bunch of old men. Because if you’re playing the blues, chances of finding a band of like-minded, and like-playing 15-year-olds is just sort of unlikely. So for years, Jonny Lang’s band was an incongruous mix of baby-faced Jonny himself and a bunch of grizzled, hard-playing blues musicians. And then all that changed.

Jonny suddenly emerged on tour with a new band. And they were really pretty. Enter Reeve with his wispy-haired, doe-eyed, porcelain-doll-featured thing, slouching in the background behind Jonny and landing an occasional solo. He played second guitar, and I remembered thinking that he wasn’t a very convincing bluesman. I mean, let’s be real. Reeve is a talented musician—although he never once touches a guitar in Spider-Man, go figure—but he looks like he belongs in a cologne ad, or leaning against a wall in the bar at the W hotel. Or belting out a showtune on a Broadway stage. In that light, maybe Reeve has indeed found his true calling.

Other factoids about Broadway’s high-flying super hero:

• He played the younger version of Ethan Hawke’s character in Snow Falling on Cedars when he was 16.
• He’s the star of Julie Taymor’s film version of The Tempest, which kind of bombed at the box office, but we’ll probably check it out when it’s streaming on Netflix
• He’s friends with former teen pop sensation, and our personal fangirl fav, Taylor Hanson. Taylor has already seen Spider-Man, and if we’d been there, we’re not sure we’d have been able to handle all that pretty in one room.
• His brother Zane, who is—illogically—both hairier and girlier looking than him, is in the Spiderband, too.
• He’s allegedly dating Lisa Origliasso, lead singer of the Aussie band The Vernoicas. That’s kind of ridiculously hot.
• His band Carney was on the verge of breaking very big when this whole Spider-Man thing happened. We’re guessing they’re not exactly bitter.

Photo: Kerry Payne