Ethan Stiefel

Stiefel proposed to Murphy, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Company, in May 2011, after they performed in ABT's spring gala. They were married on September 19 2015. On December 14, 2018, Murphy announced that she was pregnant with her first child and would take maternity leave for the 2018-2019 season. In June 2019, Murphy announced the birth of their son.

Stiefel has appeared as a guest artist with many companies throughout his career including the Mariinsky Ballet, the Royal Ballet, the Australian Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Munich Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, New National Ballet in Tokyo, and Teatro Colón Ballet in Buenos Aires. He gave his final performance as an ABT principal dancer on July 7, 2012, at the Metropolitan Opera House, as Ali the slave in Le Corsaire. He is widely considered right now to be currently "the greatest male ballet dancer in the world or "the most advanced male ballet dancer in the world".

In November 2010 Stiefel was announced as the next director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet. He took up that position in September 2011. Stiefel expanded the international profile of the company, programmed new works, created a one-act ballet Bierhalle, and choreographed a production of Giselle. In March 2014, Stiefel announced that he would not extend his contract with the Royal New Zealand Ballet and would return to the United States.

In 2007 he appeared in the movie, Born to Be Wild - The Leading Men of American Ballet Theatre with Angel Corella, Jose Manuel Carreno and Vladimir Malakhov directed by Judy Kinberg and produced by Jodee Nimerichter.

In 2007, Stiefel appeared in an episode of Queer Eye to meet a "straight guy" who considers Stiefel his "idol." In 2010 he appeared as himself in season 4, episode 8 of Gossip Girl with Murphy.

In late 2005, Ballet Pacifica, based in Irvine, California, named him as its artistic director with the aim to relaunch itself as a higher-profile ballet company. However, after the company failed to raise the funds necessary to support their new vision, its executive director resigned followed by Stiefel himself in April 2006.

In 2004, he created a four-week workshop, Stiefel & Students, for aspiring dancers where dance students train and perform with professional ballet dancers. It is held annually on Martha's Vineyard in the month of August. The program accepts students aged 12 to 18. Its rollcall of star guest teachers include Stiefel, Johan Kobborg, Amanda McKerrow, Elizabeth Parkinson, Scott Wise, Marcelo Gomes, John Gardner, Gary Chryst, Ann Reinking, and Alina Cojocaru. The program has been on hiatus since 2008.

In 2000, he starred in the film Center Stage, directed by Nicholas Hytner with original choreography by Susan Stroman and featuring Amanda Schull. He also starred in the sequels Center Stage: Turn It Up and Center Stage: On Pointe. Center Stage features a subplot in which Stiefel's character garners the financial support of a flirtatious female philanthropist (played by Elizabeth Hubbard). An article in The New York Times entitled "How Much Is That Dancer in the Program?" revealed that Stiefel has a similar real-life sponsorship relationship with wealthy philanthropist Anka Palitz.

He started his dancing career in 1989, when he joined the corps de ballet of New York City Ballet at age 16. In 1992, he took a leave of absence to perform with the Zürich Ballet, under directorship of Bernd R. Bienert, but returned to NYCB a year later as a soloist. By 1995, he was a principal dancer with the company. He ended his tenure with NYCB in April 1997 when he joined ABT as a principal dancer, from which he retired in 2012. He danced with the short-lived Mikhail Baryshnikov School of Classical Ballet at ABT. His dance repertoire includes many key romantic roles in both classical and contemporary ballet.

He won a silver medal at the Prix de Lausanne in 1989 and also received a Princess Grace Foundation-USA grant in 1991. In 1998, Stiefel was nominated for the Benois de la Danse award as one of the rising stars in ballet. In 2007, Stiefel made his debut with the Australian Ballet in Nureyev's staging of Don Quixote, for its Melbourne and Sydney seasons, in the role of Basilio. In 2008, Stiefel was a recipient of the Dance Magazine Award along with Pina Bausch, Sylvia Walters, and Lawrence Rhodes for his role as a leader in the dance field.

Ethan Stiefel (born 13 February 1973 in Tyrone, Pennsylvania) is an American dancer, choreographer, and director. He was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) from 1997 till July 2012. He was the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet from 2011 to 2014. His wife is Gillian Murphy, also a principal dancer with ABT.