Last Updated: 27 October 2026
Antonio Cipriano is an American actor and singer who, in the space of a single October weekend, went from being a familiar face to streaming audiences to a name on millions of British lips. Born in Michigan in 2000, he built his career on Broadway before moving into television, and he is now best known as John Logan in Prime Video’s Off Campus — and as the featured voice on Jamie Miller’s UK number one single Babydoll, which the pair performed together on Strictly Come Dancing on 25 October 2026.
Who is Antonio Cipriano? Antonio Cipriano is an American actor and singer best known as John Logan in Prime Video’s Off Campus and as the featured voice on Jamie Miller’s UK No. 1 single Babydoll. The Broadway-trained performer, born in Michigan in 2000, performed the song’s viral dance with Miller on Strictly Come Dancing on 25 October 2026.
Who Is Antonio Cipriano?
If you have searched for Antonio Cipriano in the last few days, you are not alone. Breakout search queries in the UK have included “why is antonio cipriano with jamie miller” — and the answer is a musical one, not a romantic one. He features on a version of Jamie Miller’s hit Babydoll, and the two performed the song — and its viral dance — together on the Strictly Come Dancing results show on Sunday 25 October 2026, the weekend the single reached number one in the UK.
That television moment introduced him to a huge new audience, but he is far from a newcomer. He has been performing since childhood, made his Broadway debut in 2019, and has built a screen career across Disney+, Prime Video and HBO Max. For readers in the UK, he is best understood as two things at once: a serious stage-trained actor with a decade of credits behind him, and the newest face in one of the year’s biggest chart stories.
One clarification matters before anything else: Antonio Cipriano is not a Strictly Come Dancing contestant. He appeared on the results show as a guest performer, singing and dancing alongside Jamie Miller and four of the show’s professional dancers. His own career is in acting and singing, not ballroom competition — although, as he has cheerfully admitted in interviews, dancing is the part of the triple-threat toolkit he finds hardest.
Early Life and Education
Antonio Cipriano was born on 13 May 2000 in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, in the Metro Detroit area of the United States. He was raised in Grosse Pointe and attended University Liggett School, from which he graduated in 2018. He is of Italian and Lebanese descent, with his Italian roots traced to the city of Palermo in Sicily.
Performing came early. He has said he was dancing around the house and singing at full volume from about the age of five, and that his parents channelled that energy into a summer camp production when he was eight years old. From there he barely stopped: community theatre, school theatre, middle-school theatre, and the Michigan Opera Theatre Children’s Chorus, often appearing in two or three shows at a time.
That grounding in live performance shaped everything that followed. Unlike many young screen actors, he learned his craft in front of audiences first — singing, acting and moving on stage — before television came calling. It is also why, years later, a live television dance on Strictly felt like a homecoming of sorts, even for a performer who jokes that dance is his weakest discipline.
From School Stage to Broadway
The first major sign of his potential came through high-school musical theatre. In May 2017 he won the Sutton Foster Ovation Award for Best Actor for his performance as Mickey McKee in Hello! My Baby, an award recognising outstanding achievement in artistry, vocal, dance and acting performance for a male lead in a high-school musical production. As a result, he represented Michigan at the 2017 National High School Musical Theater Awards — widely known as the Jimmy Awards — and placed among the top four finalists out of thirty-six male competitors.
The Jimmy Awards — formally the National High School Musical Theater Awards — are a national showcase in which the best young musical-theatre performers from across the United States compete in New York. For him, reaching the final four was the moment a school hobby began to look like a profession. Things, as he later put it, started happening.
In 2018, Antonio Cipriano was cast in the original Cambridge, Massachusetts, production of Jagged Little Pill, the musical inspired by Alanis Morissette’s album of the same name. The production played at the American Repertory Theater for two and a half months. In January 2019 it was announced that the show would transfer to Broadway. In the meantime, he appeared in a one-week Off-Broadway production of Carmelina and took part in the original reading of the stage adaptation of The Notebook.
Following previews, Jagged Little Pill opened on Broadway in December 2019, with Antonio Cipriano playing Phoenix. The musical was nominated for fifteen Tony Awards and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. A Broadway debut, a Tony-nominated hit and a Grammy-winning cast recording, all before his twentieth birthday, is a start most performers would envy.
Leaving Jagged Little Pill — and Why It Mattered
On 26 September 2021, Antonio Cipriano announced that he would not be returning to Jagged Little Pill, citing alleged transphobic and abusive treatment of the show’s non-binary cast members. The announcement followed controversy over the musical’s main character Jo, whose gender was changed from non-binary to cisgender for the Broadway version. He said Broadway should be a safe space for everyone to create and experience art, and that all artists deserve to exist fully and authentically.
The decision cost him a role in a hit show, but it defined his public reputation. He was praised by many fans and fellow performers for taking a principled stand, and the episode is still cited whenever his name comes up in discussions about inclusion in theatre. It also marked a turning point in his career: from that autumn onward, screen work took over from stage work.
There is an irony in that story that is worth noting. He has described himself in interviews as a singer first and an actor second, and dance as his weakest link — “more of a two-and-a-half threat” than a triple threat, in his own joking phrase, adding that in Jagged Little Pill he was largely placed at the back and told to pretend he knew what he was doing. Five years later, he was performing a viral dance on the biggest dance show on British television. The joke, it turns out, was on the doubters.
Screen Career: From Disney+ to Off Campus
After leaving Broadway, he built a steady screen résumé. He starred in the Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History, based on the National Treasure films, and has since appeared in a run of streaming dramas that made him a familiar face to young-adult audiences: Harlan Coben’s Shelter on Prime Video, Pretty Little Liars on HBO Max, and the Angel Studios series A Week Away: The Series, in which he played Max as a main cast member in 2025.
His most prominent role to date came in 2026, when he starred as John Logan in the Amazon Prime Video series Off Campus, the adaptation of Elle Kennedy’s bestselling hockey-romance book series. To viewers discovering him now, he is best known as John Logan, one of Briar University’s most talked-about faces — and it is that role, rather than any stage credit, that explains why so many British viewers felt they recognised him on Strictly even before they knew his name.
| Year | Title | Role |
| 2019 | God Friended Me | Derrick |
| 2019 | City on a Hill | Morgan Signa |
| 2021 | The Sex Lives of College Girls | Angelo |
| 2022 | National Treasure: Edge of History | Oren (main cast) |
| 2023 | Harlan Coben’s Shelter | Buck |
| 2024 | Pretty Little Liars | Johnny (recurring) |
| 2025 | A Week Away: The Series | Max (main cast) |
| 2025 | The Alto Knights (film) | Young Vito |
| 2026 | Off Campus | John Logan (main cast) |
Beyond acting, he has kept his singing career alive. He appeared in the music video for Joey Contreras’s Wild in 2019, and in 2025 he released his own music video, Runaways. That musical thread is what connects his acting career to the chart story that made him a trending name in Britain: he is, at heart, a singer who acts, and Babydoll gave that side of him its biggest stage yet.
The Babydoll Moment: Jamie Miller, Strictly and the UK No. 1
To understand why Antonio Cipriano is trending in the UK, start with Jamie Miller. The 29-year-old Welsh singer-songwriter from Pontprennau in Cardiff launched his career nearly a decade ago, coming third on the sixth series of The Voice UK at the age of nineteen. His single Babydoll was released on 7 August 2026 and, after actress Jennifer Love Hewitt posted videos featuring the track, it exploded into a TikTok dance trend.
The chart climb was steady and then sudden. Babydoll entered the UK charts in September, reached No. 3 on 9 October, then No. 2, and finally No. 1 — climbing a place to the top with 47,548 chart units, finishing just 556 units ahead of Tate McRae’s Housewife, according to figures reported by Music Week from Official Charts Company data. The result made Miller the first Welsh artist in 15 years to earn a UK chart-topping hit, since Sian Evans’s feature on DJ Fresh’s Louder in 2011, and the first solo male Welsh artist in 41 years, since Shakin’ Stevens’s 1985 festive hit Merry Christmas Everyone.
Where does Antonio Cipriano fit in? After the song took off, Miller and Antonio Cipriano recorded a version of Babydoll together, an idea that began, by Miller’s own account, as a joke on social media. That featured version is the one that has driven much of the recent attention — and it is why search engines keep pairing their names. The collaboration, not a personal relationship, is the story: public profiles list Antonio Cipriano as being in a relationship with performer Justine Verheul since August 2023.
The partnership reached its peak on Sunday 25 October 2026, when Jamie Miller and Antonio Cipriano gave the UK television debut performance of Babydoll on the Strictly Come Dancing results show, performing the viral dance alongside four of the show’s professional dancers. It was, by every account, a triumphant booking: a number one single, a viral dance, and the biggest entertainment show in Britain, all in the same weekend. Miller told the Official Charts Company after the result: “I don’t even know what to say other than thank-you so much for getting me number one, this is the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life, I love you guys.”
The same results show also delivered the week’s Strictly drama, as reported by Ballet News: Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr became the fourth couple eliminated, after the judges voted to save Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu, and the show announced its first-ever triple dance-off for the Halloween special. Antonio Cipriano‘s performance sat right in the middle of that packed night — a guest slot on a results show that had the whole country talking.
- 7 August 2026: Babydoll is released and begins building quietly.
- September 2026: Jennifer Love Hewitt’s videos spark a TikTok dance trend; the song enters the UK charts.
- 9 October 2026: Babydoll reaches No. 3, then climbs to No. 2.
- October 2026: Miller and Antonio Cipriano record their version together, and search interest in the pairing surges.
- 23 October 2026: Babydoll reaches No. 1 with 47,548 chart units.
- 25 October 2026: Miller and Antonio Cipriano perform the song and its viral dance on the Strictly Come Dancing results show.
Antonio Cipriano at a Glance
| Detail | What is known |
| Born | 13 May 2000, Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, USA |
| Age in October 2026 | 26 |
| Education | University Liggett School (graduated 2018) |
| Heritage | Italian (Palermo, Sicily) and Lebanese descent |
| Broadway debut | Phoenix in Jagged Little Pill (December 2019) |
| Early honour | Sutton Foster Ovation Award, Best Actor (May 2017); Jimmy Awards finalist |
| Screen roles | National Treasure: Edge of History, Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Pretty Little Liars, A Week Away: The Series |
| Current role | John Logan in Prime Video’s Off Campus (2026) |
| Chart link | Featured voice on Jamie Miller’s UK No. 1 Babydoll; performed it on Strictly, 25 October 2026 |
What’s Next for Antonio Cipriano?
So what comes next for Antonio Cipriano? On screen, the obvious question is a second season of Off Campus. He has said there is one scene from the books he is hoping makes the cut — a water tower scene involving Grace and Logan — and that fans have plenty more book material to look forward to if the show returns. Nothing about a second season has been confirmed in the reporting available at the time of writing, so that remains a hope rather than a promise.
On stage, Antonio Cipriano returned to theatre in 2026 with a four-show run as Peter in In Pieces (The Musical) at The Other Palace in London — a neat footnote for UK audiences, since it put him on a British stage in the same year he topped the British charts. He also continues to release his own music, following 2025’s Runaways video. Whether the next chapter is another series, another stage role or another chart collaboration, the Babydoll moment has given him something every performer wants: a much bigger audience for whatever comes next.
Conclusion
Antonio Cipriano is easy to underestimate if you only know him from one weekend of television. Behind the Strictly dance and the number one single sits a performer who won national awards as a teenager, debuted on Broadway at nineteen, took a public stand on principle, and then rebuilt his career on screen — from Disney+ to Off Campus. The Babydoll story is not a lucky break for a stranger; it is the moment a decade of work met the right song at the right time.
If you found this biography useful, share it with someone who watched that Strictly performance and wondered who the man beside Jamie Miller was, and explore more of our biography features on FamePost for carefully researched stories about the figures shaping entertainment and public life.
Sources: Music Week — Island EMI and Republic celebrate Jamie Miller’s No. 1 with Babydoll; Ballet News — Here is the Fourth Strictly Come Dancing Result ft. Babydoll. Biographical details cross-checked against Wikipedia’s Antonio Cipriano profile and contemporary theatre reporting.
Who is Antonio Cipriano?
Antonio Cipriano is an American actor and singer best known as John Logan in Prime Video’s Off Campus and as the featured voice on Jamie Miller’s UK No. 1 single Babydoll. Born in Michigan in 2000, he made his Broadway debut as Phoenix in Jagged Little Pill in 2019.
Why is Antonio Cipriano with Jamie Miller?
Antonio Cipriano recorded a version of Jamie Miller’s hit Babydoll with Miller, an idea that began as a joke on social media. The pair then performed the song and its viral dance together on the Strictly Come Dancing results show on 25 October 2026. It is a musical collaboration, not a personal relationship.
What was Antonio Cipriano known for before Babydoll?
Before Babydoll, Antonio Cipriano was known for his Broadway debut as Phoenix in Jagged Little Pill, which opened in December 2019, and for screen roles in National Treasure: Edge of History, Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Pretty Little Liars and A Week Away: The Series, before starring as John Logan in Off Campus in 2026.
Is Antonio Cipriano a Strictly Come Dancing contestant?
No. Antonio Cipriano is not a Strictly Come Dancing contestant. He appeared on the results show on 25 October 2026 as a guest performer, singing and dancing to Babydoll alongside Jamie Miller and four of the show’s professional dancers.
How old is Antonio Cipriano?
Antonio Cipriano was born on 13 May 2000 in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, which makes him 26 years old as of October 2026.
What is Antonio Cipriano doing now?
Antonio Cipriano stars as John Logan in Prime Video’s Off Campus, returned to the stage in 2026 in a four-show run as Peter in In Pieces (The Musical) at The Other Palace in London, and continues to release his own music, following his 2025 video Runaways. A second season of Off Campus has not been confirmed.
