Laura Ilene Benanti is an American actress and singer.
40 Facts About Laura Benanti
2.
Laura Benanti played Louise in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, winning the 2008 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
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Laura Benanti appeared as Edie Randall in the TBS comedy The Detour from 2017 until the show's cancellation in 2019.
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Laura Benanti was born in New York City to Linda Wonneberger, a vocal coach and former actress, and Martin Vidnovic, a Broadway actor and singer.
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Laura Benanti soon moved to Kinnelon, New Jersey, with her mother and stepfather Salvatore Benanti, a psychotherapist, whose name she took and whom she refers to as her father.
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Laura Benanti was particularly interested in the music of Stephen Sondheim at an early age and distanced herself from other children.
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In 2008, Laura Benanti told The New York Times that she drew on this loneliness in her portrayal of the neglected Louise in Gypsy.
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Laura 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.
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Laura Benanti played the role for two weeks while Luker was on vacation, and, at 19, took over the role when Luker left the production.
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In 2002, Laura Benanti played Cinderella 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.
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Eight months after her initial injury, Laura 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.
12.
Three weeks after undergoing spinal surgery, Laura Benanti started 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.
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Laura Benanti appeared in the World AIDS Day concerts of Pippin, Children of Eden, and The Secret Garden.
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Laura Benanti won several awards, including a Tony Award for Best 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.
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Laura Benanti appeared in The Public Theater's world-premiere production of Christopher Durang's play Why Torture Is Wrong, And the People Who Love Them from April 6 to 26,2009.
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Laura Benanti next appeared in the Lincoln Center Theater's production of Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room beginning previews on October 22,2009, and opening on November 19,2009, at the Lyceum Theatre.
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Laura Benanti appeared in the new musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown on Broadway from October 8,2010, until January 2,2011.
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Laura Benanti received a Tony nomination and won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance.
19.
In June 2013, Laura Benanti performed as the soprano soloist in the San Francisco premiere of Andrew Lippa's oratorio, I Am Harvey Milk.
20.
Laura Benanti played Goddess in The Public Theater's musical adaptation of The Tempest, which was presented at the Delacorte Theatre from September 6 through 8,2013.
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On February 16,2015, Laura Benanti played Lucille Frank in the Manhattan Concert Productions presentation of Parade at Avery Fisher Hall, alongside Jeremy Jordan as Leo Frank.
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Laura Benanti appeared in New York Spring Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall from March 12 through May 7,2015.
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Laura Benanti starred in the lead role of Amalia Balash in the 2016 Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway revival of She Loves Me opposite Zachary Levi.
24.
Laura Benanti received a nomination for Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for this role.
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In 2017, Laura Benanti appeared on Broadway in Steve Martin's Meteor Shower, along with Keegan-Michael Key as Gerald, Amy Schumer as Corky, and Jeremy Shamos as Norm.
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Laura Benanti replaced Lauren Ambrose as Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway Lincoln Center Theater revival of My Fair Lady, beginning October 23,2018, for a limited run through February 17,2019, except for Tuesday nights with Kerstin Anderson in the role.
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Laura Benanti extended her appearance in the musical to July 7,2019.
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In 2008, Laura Benanti had a recurring role on the ABC television series Eli Stone.
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Laura Benanti appeared in the pilot for the TV show as well.
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Laura Benanti played the wife of Dr Atticus Sherman on Episode 11 of Season Two of The Big C, entitled "Fight Or Flight".
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Laura Benanti played the role of Lauren Bennett, a leader of a support group, on the NBC series, Go On.
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Laura Benanti had a recurring role on the USA series Royal Pains.
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On October 17,2013, Laura Benanti appeared in an episode of Elementary on CBS.
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Laura Benanti appeared in Nurse Jackie and The Good Wife.
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Laura Benanti guest-starred as Edie, a United States Postal Service inspector, in the second season of The Detour and was later promoted to a series regular for season three.
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On July 19,2016, Laura Benanti first impersonated Melania Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during the run-up to that year's US presidential election, a role she reprised in subsequent appearances on that show.
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In 2021, Laura Benanti played the role of Francine in the film Here Today, co-written and directed by Billy Crystal, starring Crystal and Tiffany Haddish.
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Laura Benanti can be heard on the original cast albums of each of her Broadway roles, as well as compilation albums of Stephen Schwartz and Maury Yeston.
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Laura Benanti participated in a studio cast recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro, which was released by Sony Classics in February 2009.
40.
Laura Benanti met Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors, in the early 2000s.