Biography:

The Barton family was filled with music: The mother played piano, and the father sang in church. There it was known that Steve, too, would follow the artistic footsteps. He received a scholarship from the University of Texas in Austin, where he began to dance to get into an "actor's shape." After graduating he went to Europe to play leads in West Side Story, Godspell, Oklahoma!, Evita, Cats (first in Vienne), as well as in many other musicals. In London he became Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera, portraying the character as no other actor has. Folling this engagement he also played Raoul on Broadway. Following were roles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame andThe Red Shoes. In 1994 he played in Kiss Me Kate, followed by Sweeney Todd. In 1997 he returned to Vienne to play the Beast for six monmths in Beauty and the Beast. During this time he auditioned - successfully - for the role of Count von Krolock in Tanz der vampire. While preparing for the role he concentrated mainly on the history of the piece, as he was interested in the development of the myths of vampires. He says that Count von Krolock is the nicest role that he has played to date.