Born on Oct. 17, 1960 in Madison, WI, Marshall first began making home movies as a youth with his sisters, including a parody of "The Brady Bunch" well before it was en vogue. But dance proved to be his true calling, beginning as a performer and eventually rising to become a dance captain, a choreographer and ultimately a director after he graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University, where Marshall appeared in "Cats" and "Zorba." His first choreographic effort on Broadway had him providing additional choreography for "The Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1993) – with music and lyrics by Kander & Ebb – working with legendary director Hal Prince, choreographer Vincent Patterson and star Chita Rivera. Prince subsequently tapped Marshall to lay down the dance moves for a revival of "Company" (1995), which closed after 60 performances, and production of "The Petrified Prince" at the Public Theater.
Marshall's next big moment came when he choreographed the Tony-award-winning Broadway production of "She Loves Me" (1993), which earned him an Olivier nomination when the show ran in London. He won major acclaim for his choreography of the 1994 Broadway revival of "Damn Yankees" starring Victor Garber and Bebe Neuwirth, as well the show's subsequent national tour with Jerry Lewis and the London production, which resulted in a second Olivier nomination. Marshall's dance touch also graced the smash 1996 revival of "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum" starring Nathan Lane, and later Whoopi Goldberg; the 1995 stage production of Blake Edwards' "Victor/Victoria" starring Julie Andrews; and an off-Broadway revival of Steven Sondheim's "Roundabout."
Marshall's string of successes on stage was bound to attract the attention of Hollywood. In the mid-1990s, he was tapped to choreograph the dance sequences in lavish musical television productions such as the CBS telepic "Mrs. Santa Claus" (1996) starring Angela Lansbury; ABC's successful all-star TV version of "Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella" (1997) starring Brandy Norwood, Whitney Houston, Whoopi Goldberg and Jason Alexander, for which he also did the musical staging; and the Tim Robbins-directed "The Cradle Will Rock" (1998), which told the true story of the government injunction against Marc Blitzstein's 1937 musical of the same name.
Back on Broadway in 1998, Marshall made his directorial debut by co-directing (with Sam Mendes) and choreographing the wildly popular revival of Kander and Ebbs' sensation "Cabaret" starring Alan Cumming as the Master of Ceremonies and Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles. That show won just about every award imaginable, including the Tony, the Drama Desk Award and the Outer-Critics Circle Award. That same year he also helmed the Tony-winning Broadway run of Neil Simon's "Little Me" starring Faith Prince and Martin Short, and "Promises, Promises" for the City Center Encores! Series.
Marshall made a major splash on the small screen with Disney and ABC's ratings-grabbing television adaptation of "Annie" (1999) with Kathy Bates, Victor Garber, Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth, which marked Marshall's first professional foray behind the camera as a director and became the most-viewed TV movie of that year. The Peabody-award winning broadcast also resulted in Marshall winning his own Emmys for best directing and best choreography, and a Director's Guild of America Award nomination.
Hollywood strongly beckoned and, after replacing the original director on the Broadway musical "Suessical" (which he did uncredited, working with the show's choreographer, his sister and former assistant Kathleen) in 2000, he began meeting with movie studio executives looking for his first feature film project. A meeting at Miramax – studio head Harvey Weinstein's children obsessively watched and re-watched "Annie" – in which he was supposed to discuss directing a big-screen version of "Rent" instead found the director pitching a long-dreamed-of ambition, putting "Chicago" on film. Marshall had earlier directed a well-received Los Angeles production of the musical starring Bebe Neuwirth in 1992 which had earned him a Dramalogue Award.
Though there had been several failed efforts to bring the project to the screen since the 1980s involving a revolving door full of talents ranging from Bob Fosse, Larry Gelbart, Nicholas Hytner, Goldie Hawn, Madonna and a pre-"Moulin Rouge" Nicole Kidman, Marshall believed he had the concept that would allow contemporary filmgoers to embrace the inherent unreality of the movie musical: he would keep the music sequences theatrical and showy by making them imaginary figments unfolding in the head of the delusional lead character, Roxie Hart. Miramax agreed and greenlit the film, even before the surprise success of director Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge" (2001), and Marshall set to work crafting a script with writer-director Bill Condon that veered between fantasy and reality.
Marshall also cannily cast major stars who were proven box office draws-Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere-but were not known for their musical talents; nevertheless, they had the chops to pull off the demanding numbers. He also populated the supporting roles with highly unconventional choices, including Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu, which amped up the curiosity factor. But no gimmicks could beat Marshall's remarkably assured direction and whip-smart style, made all the more impressive by the director's grueling three-month, seven-day-a-week schedule. The result was a revelation: a potent, energetic, engaging and highly original film that captured the electricity of Broadway-style dance without sacrificing a theatrical sensibility for cinematic realism. Miramax's risky gamble and Marshall's back-breaking efforts proved fruitful when the film was released in 2002 to gushing critical accolades and strong box office receipts, a ride which resulted in several major awards nominations for Marshall, including an Academy Award nomination, a Directors Guild of America nod and a Golden Globe nomination.
Marshall found himself in non-musical territory for his next feature directing effort, the long-awaited adaptation of Arthur S. Golden’s “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005), starring Asian heavyweights Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh. Despite its sweeping story, lush cinematography and Oscar-winning art direction and costume design, Marshall failed to create an emotionally satisfying or financially successful film. Returning to the more comfortable genre of musical and variety programming, Marshall directed “Tony Bennett: An American Classic” (NBC, 2006-07), an all-star 80th birthday tribute to the legendary crooner featuring Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Bill Crystal. Marshall won two Emmy awards for his efforts: one for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Musical or Comedy Program, the other he shared with the other producers for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special.