1. Kerry Jane Ellis was born on 6 May 1979 and is an English actress and singer who is best known for her work in musical theatre and subsequent crossover into music.
61 Facts About Kerry Ellis
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Kerry Ellis made her first professional stage appearance in 1998 and went on to make her West End debut in the 2001 revival of My Fair Lady as an understudy for the role of Eliza Doolittle.
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Kerry Ellis, who has received several awards and nominations for her performances, has become recognised as the First Lady of West End musicals.
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Kerry Ellis has released four studio albums Anthems, which reached number 15 on the UK Albums Chart, the self-titled Kerry Ellis, Golden Days and Feels Like Home as well as an extended play Wicked in Rock and a live album Acoustic by Candlelight.
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Kerry Ellis appears as a featured artist on several other albums.
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Kerry Ellis has performed in concerts across the world in addition to headlining solo concert tours like Anthems: The Tour and The Born Free Tour.
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In 2019, Kerry Ellis received an honorary fellowship from the University of Suffolk.
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Kerry Jane Ellis was born on 6 May 1979 in Haughley, near Stowmarket, in Suffolk, the daughter of Sandra Ann Reed and Terry John Ellis.
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Kerry Ellis was only a couple of years ahead of me and I could relate to her.
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Kerry Ellis spent the summers of 1995 and 1997 with the company to earn money by singing many of their cabaret shows.
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Kerry Ellis was in the same year as fellow musical theatre actress Louise Dearman.
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Kerry Ellis was scared and excited but enjoyed it," said agent Greatorex with first understudy Jay adding, "Kerry Ellis was fantastic.
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Kerry Ellis probably showed me up" while Ellis concluded, "I was nervous but once I was on stage the nerves disappeared and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
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The first time, they saw Kerry Ellis perform in the ensemble; they returned for a second time at a performance where she was understudying the role of Eliza Doolittle and anonymously encouraged her to audition for the debut of their jukebox musical We Will Rock You.
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Kerry Ellis began performances on 14 May 2002 and was involved in television appearances with the cast on Parkinson and at Party at the Palace.
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Kerry Ellis, who ended her run as Meat on 17 April 2004, is featured on the original London cast recording of We Will Rock You.
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Whilst still in the production, Kerry Ellis performed in one-off intimate gigs at London venues.
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Kerry Ellis played Eva Cassidy in a 2004 workshop production of Way Beyond Blue, a Trevor Nunn-directed and Imogen Stubbs-written piece, in addition to being cast as Ellen in a UK tour of Miss Saigon.
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Kerry Ellis went into rehearsals for Miss Saigon at Sadler's Wells Theatre in Islington before performances commenced on 14 June 2004 at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth.
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Kerry Ellis started rehearsals while still touring with Miss Saigon, and rehearsed for four weeks with the company before beginning the role of Fantine on 27 June 2005 at the Queen's Theatre alongside John Owen-Jones, Shonagh Daly, Shaun Escoffery and Hayden Tee.
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Kerry Ellis played Fantine for almost a year and ended her time with the company on 24 June 2006.
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In July 2006, Kerry Ellis joined the original London cast of the musical Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre to play Elphaba.
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Kerry Ellis had been contracted to serve as a temporary standby to Idina Menzel, the original Elphaba, for three months from first performances in September 2006, before taking over to play the lead role full time in January 2007.
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Kerry Ellis made numerous appearances at concerts and events, singing songs from the musical, including West End Live in Leicester Square, Walk for Life in Hyde Park, Kids Week in Covent Garden, and the annual Gay Pride Festival in Trafalgar Square, in addition to making an appearance on lunchtime television chat show Loose Women.
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Kerry Ellis continued the role at the Apollo Victoria Theatre until 7 June 2008.
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Kerry Ellis replaced stage actress Stephanie J Block, making her the first Wicked actress to transfer from the West End to Broadway.
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Kerry Ellis got involved in the musical's 5th anniversary celebrations by switching on the lights of the Empire State Building with composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
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Kerry Ellis performed at Broadway on Broadway in Times Square, recorded a song titled "Behind these Walls" for Scott Alan's album Keys and released her first extended play Wicked in Rock during her time in New York.
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Kerry Ellis left the Broadway company on 9 November 2008 and was replaced by Marcie Dodd.
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Kerry Ellis returned to the West End production of Wicked on 1 December 2008 and spent a further five months as Elphaba where, ultimately, she ended her time with the musical.
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Kerry Ellis played her last performance as Elphaba on 9 May 2009 and was succeeded by Alexia Khadime two days later.
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Kerry Ellis represented the musical at the annual Royal Variety Performance in 2008 where she performed her rock version of the Wicked song "Defying Gravity" alongside Brian May on guitar at the London Palladium.
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Whilst still involved in Wicked, Kerry Ellis performed alongside Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Josh Groban, Clarke Peters, Marti Pellow and David Bedella in a two-day limited engagement of Chess in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 12 and 13 May 2008.
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Kerry Ellis performed on four dates in late June 2009 with the inclusion of Brian May in each night's encore.
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Kerry Ellis performed on tours celebrating the music of Queen in 2009, including the Symphonic Queen Spectacular across cities in the UK and Champions of Rock across cities in Sweden.
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Ironically, Kerry Ellis had appeared in the BBC talent show I'd Do Anything, mentoring potential Nancys in the fore-running to the opening of this London revival.
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Kerry Ellis mentored potential candidates in Over the Rainbow, BBC's subsequent talent show that searched for a Dorothy Gale for the 2011 musical adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.
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Kerry Ellis first played Nancy on 29 March 2010 to positive reviews, starring alongside Griff Rhys Jones as Fagin and Steven Hartley as Bill Sikes.
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Kerry Ellis was the second and final actress to play Nancy in the London revival, continuing the role until the end of the show's run on 8 January 2011.
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Promotion of the album included Kerry Ellis performing on many television shows like Tonight's the Night, The Michael Ball Show, This Morning and The Alan Titchmarsh Show, as well as performing live at the BBC Radio Theatre and later, London nightclub, G-A-Y.
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The tour commenced at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 May 2011 for two special charity performances, titled Anthems: The Concert, where Kerry Ellis was supported by the City of London Philharmonic, The West End Chorus, performer Adam Pascal and electronic string quartet Escala.
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Kerry Ellis continued to perform in various concerts throughout 2011, including her return to the leisure resort where she first started working, Potters Leisure Resort, to perform in the One Night Musicals Spectacular, which saw Ellis in combination with "musical variety from Potters Theatre Company and other leading West End singers" in February.
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In January 2012, Kerry Ellis auditioned for the debut series of The Voice UK, a reality television singing competition.
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Kerry Ellis sang "Son of a Preacher Man" but it failed to progress her further after none of the coaches turned round to select her to be in their groups.
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Kerry Ellis was named an official patron of the Academy for Theatre Arts in Newcastle-under-Lyme in the same month.
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Kerry Ellis returned to her theatrical roots on the New Generation tour of The War of the Worlds, performing the role of Beth, at arenas around Europe from November 2012 to January 2013.
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Kerry Ellis performed the role of Mimi alongside Superstar finalist Rory Taylor in the 20th anniversary concert production of the musical RENT that toured the UK, opening on 25 April 2013 at The Opera House in Manchester before playing theatres in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Cardiff, Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Glasgow and Leeds.
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Kerry Ellis gave birth to a baby boy, Alfie Kerry Ellis-Townsend, on 25 October 2013.
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Kerry Ellis launched a Pledge page, with a variety of VIP packages and Kerry Ellis gifts to try to fund her new album.
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On 12 July 2014, Kerry Ellis joined Wickeds original Broadway Glinda, Kristin Chenoweth in a duet of "For Good" during her one night only solo concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
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Kerry Ellis played a limited 12-week engagement from 4 August 2014 through 25 October 2014.
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In December 2014, Ellis released a double album, together with fellow musical theatre stars, Louise Dearman and Ben Forster, of Alexander S Bermange's three-person musical, The Route to Happiness.
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In February 2015, Kerry Ellis took over from Nicole Scherzinger as Grizabella in Cats at the London Palladium.
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Kerry Ellis gave birth to her second child, a boy called Freddie, on 30 November 2015.
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In 2017, Kerry Ellis starred as Alice in the UK tour of Wonderland.
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On 18 December 2019, Kerry Ellis performed "Rise Like a Phoenix" in the opening of the Miss World 2019 pageant.
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Kerry Ellis sang "Defying Gravity" as the finale of Musicals: The Greatest Show, a socially distanced show with no audience, performed at the London Palladium, broadcast on BBC1 on 7 February 2021.
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In July 2024, it was announced that Kerry Ellis would portray Cruella de Vil in the UK and Ireland tour of 101 Dalmatians.
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Kerry Ellis appeared during the tour's runs at the New Theatre Oxford and Theatre Royal, Brighton.
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Kerry Ellis was the final star cast member announced for the penultimate and concluding performances of the tour, scheduled from 3 December 2024 to 5 January 2025.
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From 31 January to 1 February, 2025, Kerry Ellis performed a concert at 54 Below in New York City.