Jennifer Damiano

Jennifer Damiano is an American actress and singer born on May 12, 1991, in White Plains, New York, to Mark and Nancy Damiano. Her father owns an amusement company and her mother works at a hospital. At age nine, Damiano began taking voice lessons and joined The Random Farms Kids' Theater, where she performed in productions including The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy Gale, Cinderella in the title role, Seussical as Gertrude McFuzz, and The Music Man as Marion Paroo. That same year she made her professional debut in New York City, playing Samantha and Josefina in a production based on the American Girl dolls. She continued performing professionally in small New York City roles while also participating in suburban community theater productions such as Oliver! and appearing off-Broadway in Inner Voices: Solo Voices at the Zipper Factory. Throughout her early career, Damiano remained enrolled in her White Plains public high school, graduating in 2009.

Damiano made her Broadway debut on December 10, 2006, joining the original cast of Spring Awakening at age fifteen as an ensemble member and understudy for the roles of Anna, Martha, Ilse, and Thea, making her the youngest performer in the company. She had also been engaged to understudy Lea Michele in the leading role of Wendla but was legally unable to cover the part because she was under sixteen and the role requires brief nudity. She remained with the production until December 2007, when she began rehearsals for Next to Normal. Damiano originated the role of Natalie Goodman, the teenage daughter of a woman living with manic depression, first in the show's off-Broadway production at Second Stage Theater, then during an out-of-town tryout at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and finally on Broadway at the Booth Theatre. Her performance earned her a nomination for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, making her one of the youngest nominees for that award at age seventeen. She also received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for her work in the Washington, D.C. engagement. Damiano departed the production on July 18, 2010, alongside co-stars Alice Ripley and Brian d'Arcy James, and was succeeded by Meghann Fahy.

Following Next to Normal, Damiano originated the role of Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The production began previews on November 28, 2010, and, after a record-setting number of preview performances, opened officially on June 14, 2011. Originally directed by Julie Taymor and later by Philip William McKinley, the show ran at Broadway's Foxwoods Theatre. Damiano played her final performance on November 6, 2011, and was succeeded by Rebecca Faulkenberry. After departing the production, she took part in various readings, workshops, and concert works before returning to the screen in 2013 with the indie film B-Side. That same year she joined the off-Broadway cast of the dystopian musical Venice at the Public Theater, appearing alongside Haaz Sleiman, Leslie Odom Jr., and Uzo Aduba.

Damiano returned to Broadway in 2016 for the musical American Psycho, in which she played Jean, a role portrayed by Chloë Sevigny in the 2000 film adaptation. The production began previews on March 24, 2016, at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, reuniting her with Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik and Next to Normal co-star Alice Ripley. In 2017, she starred in Zack Zadek's musical Deathless at the Norma Terris Theater, home of Goodspeed Musicals in Chester, Connecticut, directed by Tina Landau, with performances running from June 2 to July 2, 2017. Damiano later appeared in the world premiere of the stage adaptation of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, produced by The New Group alongside Ana Nogueira, Joél Pérez, and Michael Zegen, announced in December 2019. In early 2022, she participated in The New Group's off-Broadway adaptation of Black No More.

Damiano married actor Michael Zegen in January 2025; the two had met while performing together in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice off-Broadway in 2020. Their daughter, Oona Rose Zegen, was born on January 3, 2026.