Acclaimed American ballet dancer and choreographer Justin Peck, who will celebrate his 35^th birthday on September 8, has been a big name in the theater world for quite some time, and in 2021, after the release of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, officially entered the pantheon of Hollywood legends. And here is how it all began.

Born in Washington, D.C, Peck grew up in San Diego, California where his parents had moved from New York City. Peck recalls on his Instagram: “My dad married my mom, Luisa, who immigrated to this country as a young teenager from Argentina. My folks made a life in New York before moving out West. I remember the familiar sounds of Spanish being spoken by my parents in our house. I remember the stories exchanged about the family’s history with New York.”

It is widely believed that to become successful in ballet, one needs to start intensive training at the age of four years old. Interestingly, Peck only began tap dancing when he was nine, after he first saw a performance of Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk musical, choreographed by Savion Glover, in 1995.

His professional ballet training did not start until the year 2000 when the then 13-year-old Peck was inspired by Giselle, a romantic ballet in two acts performed on the stage of the American Ballet Theater. Two years later the 15-year-old moved to New York City with an ambition to attend the School of American Ballet (SAB), the associate school of the New York City Ballet (NYCB), the company he would join in 2006 at the of 18. One year later he joined the NYCB Corps de Ballet, followed by his 2013 promotion to soloist in the company: this gave him the opportunity to acquire an extensive repertoire, including classical and modern works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martina, Black Swan’s choreographer Benjamin Millepied, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, and Christopher Wheeldon.

Peck choreographed his first ballet in 2009 at the New York Choreographic Institute, and since his debut he has created over 40 dances – over 20 of those for the New York City Ballet. His works have been performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, the Dresden Semperoper Ballet, the Boston Ballet, Julliard, the LA Dance Project and many other companies around the world, garnering him the reputation of one of the most prominent choreographers in classical ballet.

After the creation of his acclaimed ballet Everywhere We Go in 2014, Peck was appointed as Resident Choreographer of the NYCB. He is only the second person in NYCB history to hold this title.

In 2018 Peck choreographed the third Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, which brought him his first Tony Award for Best Choreography.

Working on a wide array of projects, Peck’s collaborators have included composers, visual artists, fashion companies, and filmmakers Damien Chazelle, Elisabeth Moss, Bradley Cooper, and Sofia Coppola, who was artistically advised by Peck while shooting her latest project, the short film New York City Ballet, in collaboration with Chanel and the NYCB.

Peck has been extensively exploring innovative ways of presenting dance on film. In 2015 he choreographed the feature film Red Sparrow starring Jennifer LawrenceCoffee to Go with Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, Table Manners with Ethan Hawke, The Night Shift with Glenn Close, The Commuter with Julia Roberts, and The Daisy, starring Yalitza Aparicio Martinez.