Nick Jonas can laugh about it now, but his attempt to become part of one of Disney’s biggest animated franchises did not go remotely according to plan.
The 33-year-old singer and actor revealed that he once auditioned to voice Kristoff in the original Frozen. He shared the story while Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Josh Gad were guests on the Jonas Brothers’ Hey Jonas! podcast.
Jonas said he arrived without sheet music and without knowing what he planned to sing. When the casting team asked what he had prepared, he found himself scrambling for a musical theater song on the spot.
“And I bombed the audition. It was terrible,” Jonas recalled. The role ultimately went to Jonathan Groff, who voiced Kristoff in the 2013 movie and has remained part of the franchise ever since.
Jonas Says He Arrived Without a Song Prepared
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Jonas introduced the confession as a story he had not expected to tell until he found himself sitting across from three members of the Frozen cast. “I auditioned for Frozen,” he said, prompting surprised reactions from Bell, Menzel and Gad. “I went in for Kristoff.”
The trouble began as soon as the casting team asked what he planned to sing. “I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know,’” Jonas recalled, according to Entertainment Weekly. When they asked for his sheet music, he admitted he had not brought any because he did not realize he was supposed to.
Jonas then asked the accompanist to play something from a musical theater production, although even now he could not remember exactly what song he chose. The improvised solution did not save the audition. “And I bombed the audition,” he said. “It was terrible.”
Kristen Bell Immediately Teased Him About Losing the Role
Once Jonas finished the story, Bell supplied the obvious punch line. “That must have been why you didn’t get it,” the voice of Anna deadpanned.
Gad, who voices Olaf, then took the joke in the opposite direction by claiming Jonas would have had “such better chemistry” with Bell than Groff. “Like, this feels real,” Gad joked while gesturing between Jonas and Bell, according to PEOPLE.
Jonas made sure to praise the actor who actually got the job before joining in. “I love Jonathan Groff,” he said, before adding, “but I do think it would have been better to cast me.”
The conversation produced another revealing detail when Kevin Jonas asked whether Nick had ever worked with the professional team he had around him during that period again. “I’ve changed agencies three times since then,” Nick replied.
He also assured Bell, Menzel and Gad that missing out on Kristoff did not turn him against the finished movie. “I didn’t spite-watch it,” he said. “I really did enjoy it the first time.” Just Jared reported that the exchange took place while the Frozen stars visited Hey Jonas! during D23.
Jonathan Groff Turned Kristoff Into a Long-Running Role
Groff went on to voice Kristoff opposite Bell’s Anna in Frozen, which became a global hit after its 2013 release. He returned for Frozen 2 in 2019, where Kristoff received a considerably larger musical showcase with “Lost in the Woods.”
Groff is also returning for Frozen 3, which Disney has scheduled for Nov. 24, 2027. Bell, Menzel and Gad are reprising their roles as Anna, Elsa and Olaf.
Disney used its August 2026 D23 presentation to reveal that the third movie will include Anna and Kristoff’s wedding, taking the relationship Jonas once auditioned to join into another chapter.
Jonas and Groff Have Played the Same Broadway Character
Both have played J. Pierrepont Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Jonas took over the role in the 2011 Broadway revival in January 2012, following Daniel Radcliffe and Darren Criss.
He remained with the production until it closed later that year. Groff subsequently played Finch in a 2015 London concert presentation of the musical, according to The Independent.