Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Bogardus graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1972 and Princeton University in 1976, where he was a member of the Princeton Nassoons and the Princeton Triangle Club.
He made his first New York City appearance in a stage adaptation of the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in 1979. Additional off-Broadway credits include March of the Falsettos (1981), In Trousers (1985), Falsettoland (1990), and Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997), which transferred to Broadway the following year and Man of La Mancha (2002). Bogardus earned both Obie and Tony Award nominations for his performance and reprised his role in the 1997 film. He was featured in the City Center concert series Encores! in Sweet Adeline (1997) and Allegro as Joseph Taylor Jr. (1994).
His Broadway work includes West Side Story (1980), Les Misérables, November 1987 - June 1988 as Grantaire, in addition to other roles, Safe Sex (1987), The Grapes of Wrath, King David (Concert, 1997), High Society (1998), James Joyce's The Dead (April 4, 2000 to April 16, 2000 as Gabriel Conroy), Man of La Mancha (2002, Dr. Carrasco), and Old Acquaintance (2007).
Bogardus is married to Dancer Dana Moore. In 1998, they appeared opposite each other in Chicago, with Bogardus as Lawyer Billy Flynn and Moore as Velma Kelly. In 2002, they appeared together in Damn Yankees as Lola and the Devil at the Boston Center for The Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. He also has an adopted son named Jackson Bogardus.
In 2008, he starred as Bob Wallace in the Broadway and U.S. touring productions of White Christmas, a role he had performed in 2005 at the Wang Center in Boston and in 2006 in St. Paul.
In 2014-2016, Bogardus originated and appeared on Broadway in the role of Daddy Cane in Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's Bright Star.
