The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.

History[link]

The Inaugural recipients included Betty Comden, Judy Holliday and John Raitt. Winners are selected by a committee of New York-based critics. That committee includes (as of May 2011) David Cote (Time Out New York, NY1), Joe Dziemianowicz (New York Daily News), Peter Filichia (Newark Star-Ledger, Theatermania.com), Harry Haun (Playbill), Matthew Murray (TalkinBroadway.com), Frank Scheck (Hollywood Reporter), and Linda Winer (New York Newsday). John Willis, founder of the Theatre World Awards and Theatre World Editor, died in June 2010. (Theatre World is the oldest definitive pictorial and statistical record of each American theatrical season and serves as a reference for theater professionals, students, and historians worldwide.)

Known as "Janus" after the Roman god of entrances, exits, and all beginnings, the award is a bronze sculpture designed by artist Harry Marinsky.

The winners for the 2010-2011 season were announced on May 10, 2011, with a ceremony to be held June 7; the awards are traditionally presented by former award winners.^[1]

The Dorothy Loudon Starbaby Award is given by the Dorothy Loudon Foundation in connection with these awards. The first Starbaby Award was presented to Susan Louise O'Connor (Blithe Spirit) in 2009. Other recipients are Bobby Steggert (Ragtime and Yank!) (2009-2010)^[2] and Seth Numrich (War Horse) (2010-2011).^[1]

The first annual Lunt-Fontanne Award for Ensemble Excellence is presented at the 2010-2011 Awards, to the cast of The Motherf**ker with the Hat - Bobby Cannavale, Chris Rock, Annabella Sciorra, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Yul Vázquez. The award is in honor of the late Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne and is presented to an outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway ensemble.^[3]

Award winners[link]

2010-2011[link]

Source:^[1]

• Ellen Barkin, The Normal Heart
• Desmin Borges, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
• Halley Feiffer, The House of Blue Leaves
• Grace Gummer, Arcadia
• Rose Hemingway, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
• John Larroquette, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
• Heather Lind, The Merchant of Venice
• Patina Miller, Sister Act
• Arian Moayed, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
• Jim Parsons, The Normal Heart
• Zachary Quinto, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
• Tony Sheldon, Priscilla Queen of the Desert
• Lunt-Fontanne Award for Ensemble Excellence - cast of The Motherf**ker with the Hat

2009-2010[link]

Source:^[2]

• Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur
• Chris Chalk, Fences
• Bill Heck, The Orphans' Home Cycle
• Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts
• Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge
• Keira Keeley, The Glass Menagerie
• Sahr Ngaujah, FELA!
• Eddie Redmayne, Red
• Andrea Riseborough, The Pride
• Heidi Schreck, Circle Mirror Transformation
• Stephanie Umoh, Ragtime
• Michael Urie, The Temperamentals

2008-2009[link]

Source:^[4]

• David Alvarez/Trent Kowalik/Kiril Kulish, Billy Elliot, The Musical
• Chad L. Coleman, Joe Turner's Come and Gone
• Jennifer Grace, Our Town
• Josh Grisetti, Enter Laughing, The Musical
• Haydn Gwynne, Billy Elliot, The Musical
• Colin Hanks, 33 Variations
• Marin Ireland, reasons to be pretty
• Susan Louise O'Connor, Blithe Spirit
• Condola Rashad, Ruined
• Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King
• Josefina Scaglione, West Side Story
• Wesley Taylor, Rock of Ages

• Special Award to the entire cast of The Norman Conquests: Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter and Amanda Root

2007-2008[link]

• de'Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
• Cassie Beck, Drunken City
• Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
• Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
• Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
• Hoon Lee, Yellow Face
• Alli Mauzey, Cry-Baby
• Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George
• Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
• Loretta Ables Sayre, South Pacific
• Jimmi Simpson, The Farnsworth Invention
• Paulo Szot, South Pacific

2006-2007[link]

• Fantasia Barrino - The Color Purple
• Eve Best - A Moon for the Misbegotten
• Mary Birdsong - Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
• Erin Davie - Grey Gardens
• Xanthe Elbrick - Coram Boy
• Johnny Galecki - The Little Dog Laughed
• Jonathan Groff - Spring Awakening
• Gavin Lee - Mary Poppins
• Lin-Manuel Miranda - In the Heights
• Bill Nighy - The Vertical Hour
• Stark Sands - Journey's End
• Nilaja Sun - No Child...
• Special award - Actors' Fund

2005–2006[link]

Source:^[5]

• Harry Connick, Jr. - The Pajama Game
• Felicia P. Fields - The Color Purple
• Maria Friedman - The Woman in White
• Richard Griffiths - The History Boys
• Mamie Gummer - Mr. Marmalade
• Jayne Houdyshell - Well
• Bob Martin - The Drowsy Chaperone
• Ian McDiarmid - Faith Healer
• Nellie McKay - The Threepenny Opera'
• David Wilmot- The Lieutenant of Inishmore
• Elisabeth Withers-Mendes - The Color Purple
• John Lloyd Young - Jersey Boys

2004–2005[link]

Source:^[5]

• Christina Applegate - Sweet Charity
• Ashlie Atkinson - Fat Pig
• Hank Azaria - Spamalot
• Gordon Clapp - Glengarry Glen Ross
• Conor Donovan - Privilege
• Dan Fogler - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
• Heather Goldenhersh - Doubt
• Carla Gugino - After the Fall
• Jenn Harris - Modern Orthodox
• Cheyenne Jackson - All Shook Up
• Celia Keenan-Bolger - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
• Tyler Maynard - Altar Boyz

2003–2004[link]

Source:^[5]

• Shannon Cochran - Bug
• Stephanie D'Abruzzo - Avenue Q
• Mitchel David Federan - The Boy From Oz
• Alexander Gemignani - Assassins
• Hugh Jackman - The Boy From Oz
• Isabel Keating - The Boy From Oz
• Sanaa Lathan - A Raisin in the Sun
• Jefferson Mays - I Am My Own Wife
• Euan Morton - Taboo
• Anika Noni Rose - Caroline, or Change
• John Tartaglia - Avenue Q
• Jennifer Westfeldt - Wonderful Town
• Special Award - Sarah Jones

2002–2003[link]

Source:^[5]

• Antonio Banderas - Nine
• Tammy Blanchard - Gypsy]
• Thomas Jefferson Byrd - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
• Jonathan Cake - Medea
• Victoria Hamilton - A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
• Clare Higgins - Vincent in Brixton
• Jackie Hoffman - Hairspray
• Mary Stuart Masterson - Nine
• John Selya - Movin' Out
• Jochum ten Haaf - Vincent in Brixton
• Daniel Sunjata - Take Me Out
• Marissa Jaret Winokur - Hairspray
• Special Award - Peter Filichia
• Special Award - Ben Hodges

2001–2002[link]

Source:^[5]

• Justin Bohon - Oklahoma!
• Simon Callow - The Mystery of Charles Dickens
• Mos Def - Topdog/Underdog
• Emma Fielding - Private Lives
• Adam Godley - Private Lives
• Martin Jarvis - By Jeeves
• Spencer Kayden - Urinetown
• Gretchen Mol - The Shape of Things
• Anna Paquin - The Glory of Living
• Louise Pitre - Mamma Mia!
• David Warner - Major Barbara
• Rachel Weisz - The Shape of Things

2000–2001[link]

Source:^[5]

• Juliette Binoche - Betrayal
• Macaulay Culkin - Madame Melville
• Janie Dee - Comic Potential
• Raúl Esparza - The Rocky Horror Show
• Kathleen Freeman - The Full Monty
• Deven May - Bat Boy
• Reba McEntire - Annie Get Your Gun
• Chris Noth - The Best Man
• Joshua Park - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• Rosie Perez - References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot
• Joely Richardson - Madame Melville
• John Ritter - The Dinner Party
• Special Award - Seán Campion
• Special Award - Conleth Hill

1999–2000[link]

Source:^[5]

• Craig Bierko - The Music Man
• Everett Bradley - Swing!
• Gabriel Byrne - A Moon for the Misbegotten
• Ann Hampton Callaway - Swing!
• Toni Collette - The Wild Party
• Henry Czerny - Arms and the Man
• Stephen Dillane - The Real Thing
• Jennifer Ehle - The Real Thing
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - True West
• Hayley Mills - Suite in Two Keys
• Cigdem Onat - The Time of the Cuckoo
• Claudia Shear - Dirty Blonde
• Special Award - Barry Humphries

See also[link]

• Tony Awards
• Drama Desk Awards
• Obie Awards

References[link]

External links[link]

• Theatre World Awards Official website

The World Awards were founded by writer Georg Kindel; Mikhail Gorbachev is their president. An international jury selects extraordinary individuals for their achievements in a variety of areas such as acting, arts, business, media, health and others.

The first World Awards were held in November 2000 at the Imperial Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria; the fourth World Awards 2003 were hosted in Hamburg, Germany.

See also[link]

Men's World Day

External links[link]

• Official List of Award Winners

This award-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Yvonne Strahovski
Yvonne Strahovski at the Toronto International Film Festival 2011.
Born	Yvonne Strzechowski (1982-07-30) 30 July 1982 (age 29) Sydney, Australia
Residence	Los Angeles
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2004–present

Yvonne Strahovski (born Yvonne Strzechowski; 30 July 1982) is an Australian actress. Born in Australia to Polish immigrant parents, Strahovski speaks Polish and English. After graduating from the University of Western Sydney, she featured in a number of Australian television shows. She then starred as Sarah Walker in the American television series Chuck^[1], a role of which she is widely known for. She is also noted as the voice of Miranda Lawson in the Mass Effect trilogy.

Early life[link]

Strahovski was born in Campbelltown, a suburb of Sydney, as Yvonne Strzechowski to Peter and Bozena Strzechowski.^[2] Her parents had emigrated from Warsaw, Poland. She adopted the more phonetic spelling of Strahovski as her stage name at Chuck, which was at producer Josh Schwartz's behest for the sake of easier pronunciation. Strahovski's father is an electronic engineer, and her mother works as a lab technician.^[3] Strahovski started acting when she played Viola in a school production of Twelfth Night.^[4]

She spent her high school years attending Santa Sabina College, Strathfield. She graduated from University of Western Sydney's Theatre Nepean in 2003.^[5]

Career[link]

Strahovski started her career in Australia appearing in film and TV roles, including a turn on satirical show Double the Fist and a part as Freya Lewis in the Australian drama series headLand. She has also appeared in Channel Nine's Sea Patrol.

She sent in her audition tape for the show Chuck while in the United States auditioning for roles in other shows, namely NBC's 2007 series Bionic Woman.^[6] She sent in an audition tape while waiting to hear from the other two jobs. She was contacted by the producers of Chuck the next day to come in to "run lines" with Zachary Levi. The producers called her back a week later letting her know she had been cast as Sarah Walker. Six months later, she moved to the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Strahovski speaks fluent Polish and employed it in a brief exchange with a colleague in the Chuck episode "Chuck Versus the Wookiee" and again in the episodes "Chuck Versus the Three Words" and "Chuck Versus the Honeymooners". Although she portrays an American in the series, she briefly spoke in a "Hollywood" Australian accent in the episode "Chuck Versus the Ex" .

Strahovski appears in Mass Effect Galaxy, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 as the voice of Miranda Lawson. Strahovski had her face scanned and animated so she could portray Lawson in Mass Effect 2. Strahovski voices Aya Brea in the English version of the Parasite Eve spinoff, The 3rd Birthday, which was released on March 2011 for the PlayStation Portable. She also appeared in a CollegeHumor sketch in April 2011, parodying the music styles of Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Lady Gaga.^[7]

Strahovski appeared in the 2011 film Killer Elite, alongside Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro.^[8] In May 2011, she joined the comedy My Mother's Curse, opposite Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand.^[9]

In 2010, Strahovski received the Teen Choice Award for Choice Action TV Actress for Chuck, as well as a nomination for Spike Video Game Awards for Best Performance by a Human Female for Mass Effect 2. In 2011, Strahovski was nominated again for the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Action TV Actress. In 2011, Cosmopolitan Magazine (Australia) awarded Strahovski the Fun Fearless Female of the Year along with Favorite TV Actress.

In November 2011, she was cast as the female lead in I, Frankenstein.^[10] In March 2012, she was featured in a new SoBe Life commercial. And in May 2012, Strahovski ranked #35 in Maxim Hot 100 2012.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yvonne Strahovski

• Yvonne Strahovski at the Internet Movie Database
• Yvonne Strahovski on Twitter
• Yvonne Strahovski at AllRovi
• Yvonne Strahovski at TV Guide
• Bio at the official NBC site for Chuck
• TVGuide.com interview

Rose Hemingway
Hemingway at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in November 2010.
Born	Rosemary Szczesniak circa 1984 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation	actress and singer
Spouse	Geoffrey Hemingway (2010—)
Awards	Theatre World Award: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying[1]

Rose Hemingway (née Sezniak or Szczesniak) is an American actress, performer and singer, known for performing in musical theatre productions.

Early life[link]

She was born and raised in Philadelphia, with "strict Catholic" parents. Hemingway, the sixth child of nine total siblings, recalls growing up around musicals:

". . . we were only allowed to watch certain television programs, and we always watched movie musicals. That was one of the things we could watch. So, growing up, we used to put on little skits and do performances on the coffee table to imitate the movies we'd been watching, and then, I was the only one that actually took it seriously."^[2]

Hemingway attended an all-girls prep school just outside of Philadelphia, Mount Saint Joseph Academy.^[3] A gymnast, she performed in multiple amateur theatre roles at the local community center, including adaptations of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She joined The Rainbow Company, a youth theatre company in Philadelphia, with whom she performed across the city. Hemingway said that she "was a member of that company for most of my high school years, and I think it was there that I realized that I really wanted to pursue it professionally."^[2]

Career[link]

Her first acting credit after graduating from The Catholic University of America was the lead role in the TheatreWorks national tour of Junie B. Jones, which also played off-Broadway in 2006.^[2]

In 2008, she starred as the character Sophie Sheridan in the second national tour of Mamma Mia!, which had began in Toronto, Canada, in June 2003; Hemingway left the cast in February 2009.^[4]

International and regional theatre credits include The Snow Queen (Gerda/Ensemble) at the Prince Music Theatre, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Philia) at Center Stage, and Into the Woods (Cinderella) at the Annenberg Center.^[5]

Hemingway appeared in the Los Angeles transfer of the Donmar Warehouse production of the musical Parade, portraying Lila/Mary Phagan. Directed by Rob Ashford, the musical played at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, in September 2009, for a run through November 15, 2009.^[6]

She currently stars as Rosemary Pillkington in the 2011 Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, also directed by Parade's Rob Ashford.^[7] After previews from February 26, the show opened on March 27, 2011, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, with Hemingway appearing alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Darren Criss, John Larroquette, Tammy Blanchard, Christopher J. Hanke, and Mary Faber.^[8] Steven Suskin in Variety wrote, "Newcomer Rose Hemingway is a delicious Rosemary, displaying sweet innocence mixed with an underlying sense of just what is going on in this '60s world of big business."^[9] Entertainment Weekly called her "sweet-voiced" and "button-cute".^[10] For her performance, Hemingway is a recipient of a Theatre World Award.^[11]

Personal life[link]

In November 2010, she married actor Geoffrey Hemingway, who had also appeared in the national tour of Mamma Mia!.^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Internet Broadway Database profile

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2010)

Jonathan Drew Groff (born March 26, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter, stage, television and film actor. He originated the role of Melchior Gabor in the stage musical Spring Awakening and appeared as Jesse St. James in the musical television series Glee.

Personal life[link]

Groff was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to a Methodist mother – Julie, a gym teacher – and Mennonite father – Jim, a harness horse trainer and driver. He has one older brother, David. Of his upbringing, he has said "My mother’s side of the family is Methodist, which is how I was raised. It was conservative in that I had strong values—sitting down and eating with the family every day, listening to authority and going to church every week and having perfect attendance at Sunday school. But at the same time, my parents always encouraged my brother and me to be happy with what we were doing. My parents were athletes in high school; my mom and my dad were the stars of the basketball team, but they never pushed my brother and me to be anything we didn’t want to be."^[1] He graduated from Conestoga Valley High School in 2003 and was going to attend Pennsylvania State University for a BFA in Musical Theatre until he booked his first professional gig in New York city, the musical In My Life.^[2]

Groff told Broadway.com during the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., that he is "gay and proud".^[3][4]

Groff guest starred in the back nine episodes of the first season of Glee along with Spring Awakening co-star Lea Michele. During his role with Lea Michele in Spring Awakening, they became best friends. He introduced Michele to Glee creator Ryan Murphy prior to the show's start.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Groff had a year of waiting tables in New York until he booked his first acting job in 2005 as a swing/dance captain for the musical "In My Life" by Joseph Brooks. The musical was about a boy with Tourette's Syndrome, and Groff understudied the lead part. He never performed in the role. ^[2]

Groff originated the role of Melchior Gabor in the Broadway production of Spring Awakening. He played the role from the musical's Broadway debut on December 10, 2006^[5] through May 18, 2008. He also played the same role in the original Off Broadway production earlier during the summer of 2006.^[6] Groff also was in the National Tour of The Sound of Music as Rolf, and appeared in Fame at the North Shore Music Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts. In April 2007, he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his role in Spring Awakening. In May 2007, he was nominated for the Tony Award as Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance, with the award eventually going to David Hyde Pierce.^[7]

He played the recurring role of Henry Mackler on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. His storyline about a school shooting on the long-running soap opera was nixed due to the Virginia Tech shooting in April 2007, and he is no longer on the show.^[8]

Before performing on the Broadway stage, Jonathan was a performer at The Ephrata Performing Arts Center in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. There he portrayed such characters as Edgar in Bat Boy: The Musical and Ugly in Honk!.

Groff played as Claude in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Hair, which ran July 22 through August 31, 2008. He also appeared as Michael Lang in Ang Lee's major motion picture, Taking Woodstock.

Groff has appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Prayer for My Enemy by Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss, Light in the Piazza) about the consequences the Iraq war has had on an American family.^[9]

In August 2009, Groff performed The Bacchae as Dionysus as a part of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park.

He was guest starring on Glee as Jesse St. James, the male lead of rival glee club, Vocal Adrenaline for eight of the back nine episodes. He also serves as a love interest for his former Spring Awakening co-star Lea Michele's character, Rachel Berry.^[10] Newsweek critic Ramin Satoodeh stated that Groff was unconvincing in the role of the straight Jesse ("he seems more like your average theater queen, a better romantic match for Kurt than Rachel").^[11] Groff's performance was defended by Glee creator Ryan Murphy and guest star Kristin Chenoweth, both of whom described Satoodeh's essay as homophobic; it was also condemned by GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios.^[12][13]

In August 2010 he made his West End debut in Deathtrap,^[14] at the Noel Coward Theatre in a production directed by Matthew Warchus.

Groff returned to Glee at the end of the second season, where his character tried to ask Rachel for forgiveness. He returned to the show on May 10 to finish out the remainder of the second season.^[15] Despite leaving the show for the first part of its third season, Groff returned to Glee in Saturday Night Glee-ver as the coach of his former Glee club, Vocal Adrenaline.

Credits[link]

Broadway

• Spring Awakening as Melchior Gabor (2006–2008)

West End

• Deathtrap as Clifford Anderson (2010)

Off-Broadway

• The Submission as Danny Larsen (2011)
• The Singing Forest as Gray Korankyi/Walter Rieman (2009)
• Prayer for My Enemy as Billy (2008)
• Hair - Shakespeare in the Park Revival as Claude (2008)
• Spring Awakening as Melchoir Gabor (2006)

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Cast recordings[link]

• Spring Awakening (2006)
• Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers (2010)
• Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna (2010)
• Glee: The Music, Volume 6 (2011)

Featured singles[link]

Other appearances[link]

• In February 2011, Jonathan appeared in two promotional videos for his brother Dave's commercial kitchen supply site, WEBstaurantstore.com. The first was one promoting the company's Facebook fanpage and contests for its customers. The second was a special Valentine's Day video in which he made a martini and promoted products sold on the site. The martini he made was a special recipe created especially for Jonathan called the "She Loves Me Martini", for the video by Dee Brun, "The Cocktail Deeva".^[24][25][26]

Awards and nominations[link]

Nominations[link]

• Drama League Awards: Distinguished Performance 2007
• Drama Desk Awards:: Outstanding Actor in a Musical 2007
• Tony Awards: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical 2007

Awards[link]

• Theatre World Award, 2007
• Obie Award, 2009 (for both "Prayer for the Enemy" and "Singing Forest")
• WhatsOnStage London Newcomer of the Year Award, 2011 (for "Deathtrap")

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jonathan Groff at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jonathan Groff at the Internet Movie Database
• Jonathan Groff at Allmusic