Actor and social media influencer Bret Hanna-Shuford died January 3, after being diagnosed in 2025 with a rare form of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and peripheral T-cell lymphoma. He was 46 years old. Husband Steven R. Hanna announced the news on Instagram.

A graduate of Wagner College's theatre program, Mr. Hanna-Shuford dove headfirst into a musical theatre career in the early 2000s, performing on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, Wicked, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Little Mermaid, Amazing Grace, and Cirque Du Soleil’s Paramour, as well as touring the country in South Pacific and Dreamgirls. As a strong support of the Entertainment Community Fund, he performed in one-night-only Broadway benefit concerts of On the Twentieth Century, A Wonderful Life, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. A lifelong Disney fan, he also performed on the Disney Cruise Line.

In 2007, Mr. Hanna-Shuford met Stephen Hanna, a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet who was set to make his Broadway debut in Billy Elliot. The pair soon became inseparable, marrying in 2011 and welcoming their son, Maverick, in 2022.

Together, the pair would launch Broadway Husbands, a social media channel documenting their joint journey as a sober gay couple, as parents, and as advocates for LGBTQ+ families. Amassing millions of views across YouTube, Instagram, and their podcast, the pair built a thriving digital life for themselves, augmenting their performance work. In time, Mr. Hanna-Shuford would shift his focus away from performance, with his husband maintaining the duo's Broadway bonafides as he began work as a life coach, creative director, and social media marketer.

In 2025, the family relocated to Orlando, Florida for Mr. Hanna-Shuford to begin graduate studies at the University of Florida’s City Lab MS in Architectural Studies, with a concentration in Themed Environments Integration. He had hoped to one day become a Disney Imagineer.