The Bethel Renaissance Theatre alumnus has landed at Universal Studios, appeared on America’s Got Talent, and is set to premiere his first feature film.
by Bethel University
Nick Darnell always knew he wanted to perform. The nerves? Those he knew about too. But somewhere between the first time he heard the word “action” and now, he figured out how to flip a switch — and let the stage take over. Today, the Bethel University Renaissance Theatre alum is based in Los Angeles, where a career built on instinct, faith, and an unforgettable work ethic is gaining real momentum.
Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Darnell spent much of his childhood in Atlanta before his family returned to the state in time for middle school. When it came to choosing a college, his instinct was to bolt — Chicago, New York, Los Angeles were all on the table. But a performing arts scholarship at Bethel changed the math. “It was a no-brainer at that point,” he said. “I still wanted to go far, but this place offers a scholarship for performing arts, so why not entertain?”
His first year was full of academics, but the spotlight eluded him. That changed before his sophomore year, when director Brian Hill pulled him aside with a few words that Darnell still carries. “It felt like God speaking through him,” he said. “It was an uplift — like, what exactly can you do to prove that you deserve to be here?” The conversation lit a fire. The very next year, he landed a major role in Ragtime, followed by A Raisin in the Sun. Opportunities kept growing and so did he.
“I felt prepared because of Bethel,” says the Bethel alum. “The choreography, the musical theater, being around people who leveled me up. When I moved to LA, I was booking things right away. It didn’t feel like, ‘Can I do this?’ It was just, yes.”
Ask him his favorite Bethel production and he doesn’t hesitate long: In the Heights. “I was able to do everything I loved — singing, dancing, and I’m a big hopeless romantic, so there was romance and rapping. It just felt so cool. I didn’t even have to try.” But it was another production that quietly set the trajectory of his career: a 2018 Christmas show in which he played the Grinch. He loved it so much that he begged his directors to let him borrow the suit. They eventually said yes and for the next several years, Darnell performed as the Grinch at events and parades across West Tennessee. Those videos found their way online, and the offers kept coming.
When COVID-19 canceled Bethel’s spring 2020 production of Big Fish, Darnell used that time to fly to a talent showcase in Texas. He performed in front of agents and scouts and left with representation. “If COVID had not happened, I wonder if I would have ever left,” Darnell says. By January 2021, with less than five thousand dollars to his name, Darnell was on a plane. “I knew God was calling me to leave, so I just left,” he said simply.
In Los Angeles, the dominoes started falling. The Grinch character that had been a West Tennessee curiosity became a full-time role at Universal Studios, which Darnell credits as the turning point. “It skyrocketed my career,” he said. “You need improv and presence to work in a theme park, and if I didn’t have the training at Bethel, I would not have been ready at all.” From Universal, a path opened to America’s Got Talent, where he was chosen to reprise the character on the show this summer. And on May 12, his first feature film — Cotton Candy, filmed in 2023 — arrives on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. Along the way, he’s appeared in national commercials for Butterfinger and the NFL. “It’s just been like a domino effect,” he said.
Faith has run alongside his career every step of the way. Darnell grew up in the church, but says college deepened that relationship in ways he didn’t expect. He found a local congregation in McKenzie, served as a youth leader, and spent summers working at a Bible camp in Middle Tennessee, connections he made through Renaissance colleagues. “If it wasn’t for Bethel and those connections, I don’t think my faith would be where it is today,” he said.
He credits the school not just with giving him technical skills — choreography, musical theater, vocal training but with the rarer gift of space to grow into himself. “I genuinely got to just be authentically who I was,” he said. “That gave me the community, the talent, and the aura to continue forward.”
When asked about his full experience, Darnell says, “Don’t tell people your dreams — show them. Bethel was a perfect place for me to show, this is what I want to do. Even my own mom saw my performance at Bethel and said: ‘Now I see you.’”
He hopes to return to campus one day, not just to visit, but to give back the way Brian Hill once gave to him. For now, though, he’s got a film to premiere, a television appearance this summer, and a city that’s just starting to learn his name.
Watch for Nick Darnell in Cotton Candy on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, and on America’s Got Talent this summer.