Actor Will Swenson joked he never felt so popular taking call after call and reading the congratulatory comments on his Facebook account Tuesday morning.

“I feel like it's my birthday,” said the Utah native from his New York City home. “I'm beside myself. I can't believe it. I don't think it's really hit me yet.”

Swenson, the grandson of Ruth and Nathan Hale, one of Utah's most prominent theater families, earned a Tony Award nomination in the “Featured Actor in a Musical” category for his role as Berger in the Broadway revival of “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.”

Swenson was taking his two children to school when he received a phone call from his sister in Utah with the news. “It will sink in a couple hours and then I'll probably throw up and pass out,” Swenson said.

Swenson is a household name on Utah's stages, especially those of Orem's Hale Center Theater and West Valley City's Hale Centre Theatre. After all, drama is the family business. Swenson's mother, Sally Hale Rice, was executive producer of the West Valley City theater, one of four founded by his grandparents.

Swenson's oldest brother, Cody, owner of the Orem theater, said the entire family was up early to watch the news. “There are so many people around the theater here who know him and that just kind has been the buzz this morning, talking about it,” Cody Swenson said. “It's fun.”

The Swensons' early years were spent in Glendale, Calif., where the family's first theater was founded. Cody Swenson remembers acting and attending shows with his younger brother. It was after they saw a touring company's production of “Annie” that Will announced he was going to go into the family business.

“After the show was over, he said 'I want to do that. I want to be down there.' Ever since then, he has pursued it, and that's where it has gotten him,” the theater owner said.

Will Swenson attended Cottonwood High School and Brigham Young University, before moving to New York City eight years ago. His credits on- and off-Broadway include “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “Lestat,” “Adrift in Macao” and “Rock of Ages.”

Utahns might recognize Swenson from his role as Jonathan Jordan in the Mormon film “The Singles Ward.” In addition, he has played Book of Mormon prophets and even is the voice of Jesus in a film shown at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Visitors Center on Temple Square. “Of course, they'll probably shut it down knowing I'm doing 'Hair' on Broadway,” Swenson joked in an interview with New York magazine earlier this spring.

This is Swenson's third production of “Hair,” which he first appeared in during a 40th-anniversary concert in New York's Central Park in 2007. The play was then revived the next summer as a musical, and moved this season to Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theatre. He plays a charismatic hippie named Berger, who leads war protests and lovefests, and is occasionally nude on stage.

“This role is fantastic,” Swenson said. “He is just a crazy character, all about the moment, having fun and being true to himself. Overall, exciting things to explore.”

With the show receiving eight Tony nominations, Swenson expects a busy month ahead with interviews and appearances. Because of his family background, he has some practice imagining winning a Tony. “So you write your Tony speech like 20 times and think about all the old enemies you want to embarrass,” Swenson said. “I'm freaking out. It's fantastic.”