Idina Menzel

About Idina Menzel

Idina Kim Menzel (born May 30, 1971) is a Tony Award-winning American actress, singer and songwriter who achieved fame for her performances as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the Tony award-winning musical Wicked and as Maureen Johnson in the Broadway and film versions of Rent.

Menzel was born in Queens, New York as Idina Kim Mentzel, of Jewish heritage. Her mother, Helene, is a therapist, and her father, Stuart Mentzel, worked as a pajama salesman. She was raised in Syosset, New York with her younger sister Cara and later changed her surname (Mentzel) because of constant mispronunciation. When Menzel was 15 years old, her parents divorced and she started working as a wedding and bar mitzvah singer, a job which she continued throughout her time at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Drama at NYU prior to being cast in Jonathan Larson's rock musical Rent.

In 1995, Menzel auditioned for Rent, which became her first professional theater job and her Broadway debut. After Rent opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop on January 26, 1996, it was moved to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre due to its popularity. For her performance as Maureen Johnson in the original cast of the musical, Menzel received a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She completed her last performance on July 1, 1997.