Holly Cruikshank

Holly Cruikshank, born June 18, 1973, in Fountain Hills, Arizona, is an American dancer whose Broadway career spanned from 1992 to 2004 before she transitioned to television work. Raised with an early passion for dance, she began studying ballet at age three and cited screen legend Cyd Charisse as a formative influence. By her teenage years, Cruikshank was training four hours daily and performing with Phoenix-based Ballet Arizona. She subsequently spent a year at the North Carolina School for the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem before pursuing professional auditions.

Her initial ambition was a career in ballet, but that path ended when she auditioned for the Hubbard Street Dance Troupe in Chicago. Founder Lou Conte told her she was too tall to succeed as a professional ballerina — Cruikshank stands over six feet. On the advice of a dance teacher, she redirected her focus to Broadway and, at age 18, landed her first role as a showgirl in Tommy Tune's The Will Rogers Follies. She remained continuously employed as a Broadway dancer for the following fifteen years.

After The Will Rogers Follies, Cruikshank built a series of increasingly prominent credits, including Hello, Dolly!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and a featured role in Fosse. Her work in Fosse led to a position in the Broadway run of Contact, where she understudied Deborah Yates in the Tony Award-winning role of the Girl in the Yellow Dress. When the Contact touring company launched in 2001, Cruikshank assumed the role outright and toured for a year, earning strong notices in the part. That same year she received a nomination for the LA Ovation Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

In 2002, while still touring with Contact, Cruikshank and partner David Gomez auditioned together for Movin' Out, the musical built around the music of Billy Joel and choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and both were selected for the original Broadway cast. Cruikshank initially performed the lead role of Brenda in matinee performances. In 2003, following Elizabeth Parkinson's departure from the show, she assumed full lead billing for the role on Broadway. She then carried the role into the Movin' Out touring company from 2004 to 2007. In 2005, her performance earned her the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Non-Resident Production.

Beyond Broadway, Cruikshank appeared in small film roles and served as one of the house dancers — known as the honey bees — on The Singing Bee, a variety-competition program that aired on CMT.