Patina Miller (born November 6, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Miller is best known for originating the role of disco diva wannabe Deloris Van Cartier in the 2009 West End and 2011 Broadway productions of Sister Act the Musical.
Born Patina Renea Miller in Pageland, South Carolina and raised in a single parent home, she was introduced to music at an early age and sang with the gospel choir at her local church. She attended South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities and in 2006 graduated with a degree in musical theatre from Carnegie Mellon University, which she attended on a full scholarship. She has credited her time at Carnegie Mellon as a big part of her life, saying, "It was there that I studied and really realized that I could make my dream a reality. I'm so thankful to all my teachers who helped me to become the performer I am today. I'm so proud of my school and feel so blessed to have gotten such a wonderful education and made lifelong friends."
In 2005, Miller was one of three finalists for the role of Effie White in Dreamgirls, which ultimately won Jennifer Hudson the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2007, she was cast in All My Children and appeared in 30 episodes of the daytime soap opera. She performed in a Central Park production of Hair in the summer of 2008 and was featured in the musical Romantic Poetry at the Manhattan Theatre Club that fall.
Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Foster has received two Tony Awards, in 2002 for her role of Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie and in 2011 for her role of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes. Her other Broadway credits include Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek the Musical. She also is starring in the upcoming television series Bunheads.
Foster was born in Statesboro, Georgia and raised in Troy, Michigan. At age fifteen, she was a contestant on the television show Star Search and also auditioned for the cast of The Mickey Mouse Club. She left Troy High School before graduating (she received her diploma via correspondence courses) to join the national tour of The Will Rogers Follies directed by Tommy Tune. She then attended Carnegie Mellon University for one year, but left to pursue a theatrical career full-time. May 2012, she received an honorary doctorate from Ball State University. Her brother is actor Hunter Foster.
Karen Olivo (born August 7, 1976) is an American stage and television actress, who is known for originating the role of Vanessa in the Tony Award–winning musical In the Heights both on and off Broadway. She won her Tony Award for her performance as Anita (2009–2010) in the revival of West Side Story. She is the first and only actor to win a Tony for a performance in West Side Story.
Olivo is of Dominican, Puerto Rican, Native American, and Chinese descent. She was born in New York City and raised in Bartow, Florida. She attended the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in nearby Lakeland, Florida, and later the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music. Olivo is married to Matt Caplan, who is currently in the production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
In 2009, Olivo received her first Tony Award for her performance as Anita in the Broadway revival of West Side Story. She was also nominated for both a Drama Desk and an Outer Critic's Circle Award for her critically acclaimed performance as Anita. She earned her second Astaire Award nomination for Best Female Dancer for her performance in West Side Story, after previously winning the same award in 2008 for her performance in In the Heights. She was contracted with West Side Story at the Palace through 2010. During the May 8, 2010 matinee performance of West Side Story, Olivo broke her foot. Anita standby Natalie Cortez performed the role until the show's closure. Olivo took part in the world premiere of "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark" at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, the play "draws upon the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood."
Anna Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She rose to fame after her performance as Natalie Keener in Up in the Air, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her other work includes The Twilight Saga, Camp, Rocket Science, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 50/50, and the Broadway musical High Society.
Kendrick "caught the [acting] bug" at the age of 10, when she caught a bus from Portland, Maine, to New York City so that she could attend auditions. Kendrick's first acting role was as Dinah in the Broadway musical High Society in August 1998 when she was 12 years old, a performance for which she earned Theatre World Award, Drama Desk Award, and Tony Award nominations, making her the third-youngest Tony Award nominee.
Kendrick went on to appear in a number of other theater productions, including the musical A Little Night Music, before making her film debut in the 2003 musical comedy Camp, for which she was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 2004 Chlotrudis Awards and Best Debut Performance Independent Spirit Award for her portrayal of Fritzi Wagner.
Shirley MacLean Beaty (born April 24, 1934), known professionally as Shirley MacLaine, is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well known for her beliefs in New Age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career. She was nominated for an Academy Award five times before winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1983 for her role in Terms of Endearment. Her younger brother is Warren Beatty.
Named after Shirley Temple, MacLaine was born in Richmond, Virginia. Her father, Ira Owens Beaty, was a professor of psychology, public school administrator, and real estate agent, and her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (née MacLean), was a drama teacher originally from Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada; MacLaine's grandparents were also teachers.The family was devoutly Baptist. Her uncle (her mother's brother-in-law) was A.A. MacLeod, a Communist member of the Ontario legislature in the 1940s.