Evynne Hollens

Evynne Hollens (née Smith) is an American vocalist and Broadway performer based in Eugene, Oregon. She co-founded Divisi, a female a cappella group at the University of Oregon, and sang with the ensemble for five years. Hollens is named in the opening line of the first chapter of the book Pitch Perfect, and her experiences with Divisi at the 2005 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Finals form a substantial portion of that book, which later served as the basis for the film of the same name. In 2007, she married musician Peter Hollens; the couple have two sons, Ashland, born in 2014, and Saylor, born in 2018.

Hollens has maintained a long association with The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts in Eugene, contributing to more than twenty productions there over fifteen years. Her work at the venue has included performing in The Contemporary Songbook Project, playing Nanette in No, No, Nanette, and appearing in Hear My Song on May 30 and 31, 2015. In April 2015, she directed a production of Beauty and the Beast at the Rose Children's Theater. At the Oregon Contemporary Theatre in 2013, she took on the roles of Lucy in Avenue Q and Natalie in Next to Normal. From January 15 to February 6, 2016, she performed the role of Cathy in The Last Five Years.

Hollens and her husband made their Broadway debut together in Home for the Holidays, Live on Broadway, which ran from November 17 to December 30, 2017, at the August Wilson Theatre. In April 2018, she returned to The Shedd for The Contemporary Songbook Project V, presented under the title Evynne Hollens: Real Broadway at the Jaqua Concert Hall from April 27 to April 29. That production included Milagro, a bilingual musical she co-wrote with Portland singer-songwriter Anna Gilbert.

Between 2013 and 2022, Hollens was an active presence on YouTube, frequently collaborating with her husband and pianist Nathan Alef. Her recorded repertoire includes showtunes such as "Somewhere" from West Side Story and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. Her "Shake it Out/Shake it Off" mashup surpassed 200,000 views within four days of its release and was featured on Buzzfeed and Mashable. A collaboration with Peter Hollens titled "Taylor Swift 1989 in 4 Minutes" generated coverage in outlets including Mashable, Billboard, Deseret News, and Virgin Radio. Her "Evolution of the Disney Princess" video, released on March 3, 2016, exceeded one million views within a week and was covered by Time, Teen Vogue, BuzzFeed, and Disney's own blog; the video has since accumulated over 14 million views.