Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Foster is best known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she 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 stars in the ABC Family 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.

Foster's first Broadway role was as an understudy for Sandy Dumbrowski in Grease in 1996. She then appeared in The Scarlet Pimpernel and as Star to Be in Annie in 1997. Foster's next Broadway role was understudying for Eponine in Les Misérables in 2000.^[1]

Foster's opportunity was reminiscent of 42nd Street when, during rehearsals of the pre-Broadway run of Thoroughly Modern Millie at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, she replaced leading lady Erin Dilly.^[2] Any apprehension about having an unknown playing the lead in a nearly $10 million Broadway production was proven unfounded when she opened at the Marquis Theatre to many positive reviews. The New York Daily News reviewer described her as "newcomer Sutton Foster, who has the pert look, the silver voice and the dazzling legwork to make an extraordinarily winning Millie."^[3] Clive Barnes, reviewing for the New York Post wrote "Newcomer Sutton Foster's own star turn as Millie is perfectly charming, but as a star she doesn't twinkle, glitter or light up Broadway like a Christmas tree defying a July noon. But she has a good voice and is cutely agreeable."^[4] The Newsday reviewer wrote: "She has a smile that may remind you of Mary Tyler Moore, the gawky comic precision of the young Carol Burnett, the lyricism of a romantic heroine and a smallish but vibrant voice as accurate as it is expressive. As [Millie], another of New York's prototypical small-town girls with big-city dreams, [Sutton Foster] appears unfazed by the burden of a character created onscreen by Julie Andrews. The newcomer takes the big stage with an uninhibited what-the-heck comfort level and the discipline to go with her instincts."^[5] Time Magazine wrote: "she's [Sutton Foster] got the full package: girlish gawkiness and Broadway brass, the legs and the lungs. Foster is a big reason the show is just about the cutest thing to hit Broadway since Annie's dimples, with perkily retro songs by Jeanine Tesori and clever staging by director Michael Mayer..."^[6] Foster went on to win the 2002 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical,^[7] the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical,^[8] and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her performance.^[9][10]

In 2005, Foster starred as Jo March opposite Maureen McGovern as Marmee in the musical adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott classic Little Women, for which she was nominated for her second Tony Award.^[11] She returned to the Marquis Theatre in May 2006 in The Drowsy Chaperone, a spoof of 1920s musicals. She played the role of Janet van de Graaff, a famous Broadway starlet who opts to forgo a stage career in favor of married life. Her performance earned her a third Tony nomination.^[12] Foster starred in Mel Brooks' musical adaptation of his film Young Frankenstein as the German yodeling fraulein Inga from October 2007 to July 2008.^[13]

She created the role of Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical, which opened on Broadway December 14, 2008.^[14] For this role Foster won her second Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical^[15] and was nominated for her fourth Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.^[16] She played her final performance on January 3, 2010, when the show closed on Broadway.Foster participated in a reading of a work-in-progress new musical, Bonnie and Clyde: A Folktale, in June 2009. Her brother Hunter is writing the music for this musical.^[17]

Foster taught a Spring Semester class at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Undergraduate Department of Drama, beginning in January 2010, culminating in a cabaret performance at Joe's Pub in May and taught a Fall Semester 2010 class also culminating in a performance at Joe's Pub called Crazy for Gershwin (music directed by Deborah Abramson). She is now on the faculty of NYU's New Studio on Broadway. She also taught a week long master class session at Ball State University (Muncie, IN) in January 2010.^[17] September 2010, she continued her relationship with Ball State University by working with students in the classroom, teaching master class sessions, and performing workshops for students of the Department of Theatre and Dance. In the spring of 2012, she returned to Ball State where Foster spoke at commencement and received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from Ball State University for her continued engagement with Ball State students teaching classes at Ball State, mentoring the interdisciplinary team that wrote the musical "The Circus in Winter" and co-directing the Department of Theatre and Dance's Spring 2012 production of "The Drowsy Chaperone."

Foster made her Off-Broadway debut in Paul Weitz's new comedy, Trust which began previews July 23, 2010 with an official opening August 12, running through September 12, 2010 at Second Stage Theatre. The play also starred Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale, and Ari Graynor.^[18]

She most recently played Reno Sweeney in the Broadway revival of Anything Goes, which began performances on March 10, 2011 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and officially opened on April 7, 2011.^[19] For this role Foster won her third Outer Critics Circle Award and second Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for her performance.^[20][21][22] Foster played her final performance March 11, 2012, when she was replaced by Stephanie J. Block. Foster left to film her new television series, Bunheads, which premiered on ABC Family on June 11, 2012.^[23][24]

In 2007, Foster appeared on television in Johnny and the Sprites, a children's musical puppet show,^[25] and in a three-episode story arc on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords.^[26] She also guest starred on an episode of Law & Order SVU, which aired on March 3, 2010 opposite comedian Kathy Griffin.^[27]

Foster plays the leading role in the 2012 ABC Family drama series, Bunheads. Developed by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of Gilmore Girls, she plays former Las Vegas showgirl Michelle, who impulsively marries a man, moves to his small town, and begins teaching ballet lessons at her new mother-in-law's dance studio.^[28]

Wish, Foster's debut solo album, was released on the Ghostlight Records label in February 2009. The songs range from jazz to pop to cabaret to Broadway.^[29] In 2010, Foster promoted the album with concert performances in Boston, New York, Chicago, the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Orange County, California, and Washington, D.C.^[30]

Foster starred as Nurse Fay Apple in the New York City Center's Encores! production of Anyone Can Whistle, which played from April 8 to April 11, 2010.^[31]

Foster and Seth Rudetsky participated in the one night only Actors Fund benefit concert of They're Playing Our Song on August 30, 2010 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre, John Jay College, New York. The full cast included Efé, Kaitlyn Davidson, Alex Ellis, Maynard, Matt Loehr, and Jesse Nager, and was directed by Denis Jones.^[32]

Foster performed at the 33rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors in a tribute to Jerry Herman, singing "Before the Parade Passes By."^[33] She then performed at the Kennedy Center Honors the following year in a tribute to Barbara Cook.^[34]

Foster married Christian Borle in September 2006.^[35][36][37] On a radio interview in 2010 it was confirmed that Borle and Foster had gone their separate ways.^[38][39] Foster and Borle remain friends. Foster announced her breakup with former boyfriend Bobby Cannavale in an interview in April 2012.^[40]

Broadway

• Anything Goes as Reno Sweeney (2011–2012)
• Shrek the Musical as Princess Fiona (2008–2010)
• Young Frankenstein as Inga (2007–2008)
• The Drowsy Chaperone as Janet Van De Graaff (2006–2007)
• Little Women as Jo March (2005)
• Thoroughly Modern Millie as Millie Dillmount (2002–2004)
• Les Misérables as Eponine u/s (2000)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1997)
• Annie as Star to Be (1997)
• Grease as u/sSandy Dumbrowski (1996)

Off-Broadway

• Trust as Prudence (2010)

Regional theatre

• Me and My Girl (2004)
• What the World Needs Now (1998)
• Dorian (2000)
• The Three Musketeers
• South Pacific

Concerts

• They're Playing Our Song as Sonia Walsk (August 30, 2010)
• Anyone Can Whistle (Encores!) as Nurse Fay Apple (April 8–11, 2010)
• Funny Girl (Concert) as Fanny Brice (September 23, 2002)
• Chess (Concert) as Svetlana (September 22, 2003)

Television

• Johnny and the Sprites (2007)
• Flight of the Conchords (2007)
• Law & Order: SVU (2010)
• Sesame Street (2011)
• Royal Pains (2012)
• Bunheads (2012)

Discography

• Anything Goes Broadway Revival Recording
• An Evening with Sutton Foster: Live at the Café Carlyle (2011)
• Wish First Solo Album
• Shrek The Musical Original Cast Recording
• Keys — The Music of Scott Alan
• Young Frankenstein Original Cast Recording
• The Drowsy Chaperone Original Cast Recording
• Little Women Original Cast Recording
• The Maury Yeston Songbook
• Thoroughly Modern Millie Original Cast Recording
• Jule Styne in Hollywood

Workshops

• Carrie, Off-Broadway Revival
• Wicked (musical)^{[citation needed]}
• Bonnie and Clyde

• Official Website
• Sutton Foster | PlaybillVault.com
• Sutton Foster at the Internet Broadway Database
• Sutton Foster at IMDb
• Sutton Foster on Twitter
• Article on her role in Thoroughly Modern Millie
• Sutton Foster - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, May 2005
• Performance - Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2003
• TonyAwards.com Interview with Sutton Foster
• Riverfront Times interview with Sutton Foster about her upbringing

Template:Persondata