Laura Benanti

Infobox actor
name = Laura Benanti

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imagesize = 180px
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = Birth date and age|1979|7|15
birthplace = New York City, New York, USA
yearsactive = 1979-present
occupation = Actor, singer
yearsactive =
spouse = Steven Pasquale (2007-present)
tonyawards = Best Featured Actress in a Musical
2008 "
awards = Drama Desk Awards - Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
2008 ""

Laura Benanti (born July 15, 1979) is an Tony Award winner and three time Tony nominated American actress and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway theatre productions as well as television and film

Biography

Early life

Laura Benanti was born in New York City, the daughter of Linda Wonneberger, a vocal coach and former actress, and Martin Vidnovic, a Broadway actor and singer.Rosati, Nancy. [http://www.talkinbroadway.com/spot/benanti1.html "Spotlight on Laura Benanti"] , Talkin' Broadway, 2000. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.] She is of Yugoslavian-German-Irish-Native American heritage.Buckley, Michael. [http://www.playbill.com/features/article/94739.html "STAGE TO SCREENS: Chatting with Stage and Screen Star Laura Benanti"] , Playbill, 2005-08-28. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.] When Laura was young, her parents divorced and she moved to Kinnelon, New Jersey with her mother and her stepfather Salvatore Benanti, a psychotherapist, whose name she took and whom she has referred to as her father.Singer, Barry. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E4DF1E3CF93BA15752C0A9679C8B63 "THEATER; With a Song in Her Heart, Taking On the Stage (Again)"] , The New York Times, 2001-01-28. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.]

Benanti remembers being "very serious" and "a bit of an ugly duckling" as a child, and was intensely interested in musical theatre, which distanced her from other children.McGee, Celia. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/theater/23mcge.html "Sing Out, Laura. It’s Your Turn."] , The New York Times, 2008-03-23. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.] (In 2008, Benanti told "The New York Times" that she drew on this loneliness in her portrayal of the neglected Louise in "".) Though her parents refused to let Laura audition for professional theatre, Laura appeared in several high school and community productions, including "Evita" (as Peron's mistress), "Follies" (as Young Heidi), and "Into the Woods" (as Cinderella). At 16, Benanti played the title role in her high school production of "Hello, Dolly!" and won a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Outstanding Actress in a high school production.Klein, Alvin. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DD123BF933A15755C0A96F958260 "JERSEY FOOTLIGHTS; A Girl Named Maria"] , The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-30.] She graduated from Kinnelon High School in 1997.

Broadway career

In 1998, Paper Mill's then-artistic director Robert Johanson recommended Benanti for the role of Liesl in a Broadway revival of "The Sound of Music". Benanti auditioned for the show's producers and was considered too mature-looking to play Liesl, but, after several call-backs, was signed at the age of 18 to play one of the nuns and to understudy Rebecca Luker as Maria. Benanti played the role for two weeks during Luker's vacation, and, at 19, took over the role when Luker left the production. Playbill's Michael Buckley later wrote that Benanti "was an absolutely wonderful Maria [...] As do others, I believe that had she opened in the show, Benanti would have been an overnight sensation." When she was cast in "The Sound of Music", Benanti had attended New York University for two weeks; the dean recommended she go on leave to take the job. [Fradkin, Lori. [http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/03/laura_benanti_on_stripping_in.html "Laura Benanti on Stripping in ‘Gypsy’ and Her Delighted Husband"] , New York magazine, 2008-03-28. Retrieved on 2008-06-30.]

In 1999, Benanti appeared in the Broadway revue "Swing!", for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. In 2002, Benanti played Cinderella (a role she had played as a teenager) in the Broadway revival of "Into the Woods", and received both a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. During a mid-performance pratfall in "Into the Woods", Benanti fractured her neck, herniating two discs directly onto her spinal cord and cutting off spinal fluid, a condition that sometimes leads to paralysis. The injury was misdiagnosed and "Into the Woods" producers asked Benanti not to mention her injury; when she began missing performances due to neck problems, rumors spread that Benanti was behaving unprofessionally spread, in what she calls "really hurtful. I had a serious injury and there was absolutely no way I could have done the show. I tried to. I tried to go back and do it but I physically couldn't."Rosati, Nancy. [http://www.talkinbroadway.com/spot/benantiupdate.html "Update Interview with Laura Benanti"] , Talkin' Broadway, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-06-30.] Benanti was eventually replaced in the show by Erin Dilly. Eight months after her initial injury, Benanti was rediagnosed and received surgery that could have damaged her voice but was successful, though as of 2005 she still experienced neck pain and myelopathy.

Three weeks after receiving spinal surgery, Benanti entered previews in March 2003 for the Broadway revival of "Nine", in which she played Claudia, a movie star who inspires Guido, a director played by Antonio Banderas. In Fall 2003, she declined an offer to play Eileen Sherwood opposite Donna Murphy in the Broadway revival of the Leonard Bernstein musical "Wonderful Town", opting instead to appear in her first non-musical Broadway role, as Rosamund Plinth in Richard Greenberg's play "The Violet Hour". Benanti left the production in previews due to exhaustion and because the part "just wasn't a right fit".

In Spring 2006, she returned to Broadway as Julia Sullivan in "The Wedding Singer"; the show closed in December 2006. [Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/103001.html "The Wedding Is Off: New Musical "Wedding Singer" to Close in December"] , Playbill.com, 2006-10-25. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.] In July 2007, Benanti played in a three-week limited run of the musical ' at the New York City Center as Louise, alongside Patti LuPone as Rose and Boyd Gaines as Herbie. In March 2008, the production transferred to Broadway, where it received widespread critical acclaim. Benanti's performance as Louise was praised, with "The New York Timess Ben Brantley declaring it "the performance of her career", [Brantley, Ben. [http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/theater/reviews/28gyps.html "Curtain Up! It’s Patti’s Turn at ‘Gypsy’"] , The New York Times, 2008-03-28. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.] and she won several awards, including a Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.

Benanti has also appeared in the World AIDS Day concerts of "Pippin" and "Children of Eden". These concerts were co-founded by her best friend, Jamie McGonnigal and former Miss America Kate Shindle.

Television and film

In addition to stage roles, Benanti was a regular on the short-lived FX Networks sitcom "Starved" (2005), which received mixed reviews but which Benanti described as "a good experience. I got a lot of camera experience, which was something I just hadn't had." A year later, she appeared in two films: "Take the Lead", in which she reunited with her "Nine" co-star Antonio Banderas as his love-sick assistant, and "Falling for Grace", in which she played a princess. In 2008, Benanti had a recurring role on the ABC television series "Eli Stone". Despite her forays into screen work, Benanti remains devoted to the stage, and has stated that "musicals are a great American art form. We've got apple pie, jazz and musical theater. I want to do this my whole life."

Recordings

Laura appears on the original cast albums of each of her Broadway roles, as well as compilation albums of Stephen Schwartz and Maury Yeston. She also appears as a guest artist on the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC's live album, "The Songs of Hammerstein & Sondheim". She can now be heard on the cast album of "Gypsy", which was released in August 2008 from Time/Life Records. A songwriter and guitarist, Benanti has written songs privately since at least the early 2000s; in 2005, she said that she was working on a folk-rock solo CD, though "Musical theatre is my first love [...] I want to take my music and orchestrate it in a kind of old fashioned style, and take some standards and 'popularize' them—do a true crossover. I'm working on it."

Personal life

Benanti met Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors, in the early 2000s; they married on July 25, 2005, and divorced in 2007.Buckley, Michael. [http://www.playbill.com/features/article/94739.html "STAGE TO SCREENS: Chatting with Stage and Screen Star Laura Benanti"] , Playbill, 2005-08-28. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.] In September 2007, Benanti married the actor Steven Pasquale, with whom she had appeared in the 2005 World AIDS Day "dream cast" concert of "The Secret Garden".

References

External links

* [http://www.robbierozelle.com/laura/ Laura Benanti official website]
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###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
years=2007-2008
for "Gypsy"
before=Debra Monk
for "Curtains"
after=-