Jenny Powers

Jenny Powers is an American actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder born on August 29, 1979, in Andover, Massachusetts. She attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she earned a bachelor's degree and was a member of the Upsilon chapter of Delta Delta Delta. Powers is the granddaughter of David Powers (1912–1998), who served as Special Assistant to President John F. Kennedy and later as Curator of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum from 1964 until his retirement in May 1994, and who was present in the Dallas motorcade at the time of Kennedy's assassination. Her father, David Powers, Jr., is an attorney, and her mother, Mary Ellen Powers, is a Professor of Nursing. She has a sister, Jacqueline, and a brother, David III.

In 2000, Powers was crowned Miss Illinois and subsequently competed in the Miss America pageant, where she won the talent competition. That same year, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry invited her to sing the national anthem at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Powers made her Broadway debut in 2005, playing Meg, the eldest March sister, in the musical Little Women. In May 2006, she appeared in the Encores! series production of Of Thee I Sing as Diana Devereaux, a role for which The New York Times critic Charles Isherwood noted her performance. The following year, she appeared in a 2007 revival of Follies, in which New York Times chief theater critic Ben Brantley singled out her performance alongside Donna Murphy. Later in 2007, Powers joined the Broadway revival of Grease as Rizzo, a production whose two lead roles had been cast through the reality television series Grease: You're The One That I Want, with Laura Osnes and Max Crumm winning the roles of Sandy and Danny respectively. Both Variety and Associated Press theater critic Michael Kuchwara noted Powers's performance, with Kuchwara crediting her with the dramatic and vocal honors of the production for her portrayal of Rizzo and her delivery of the song "There Are Worse Things I Could Do." Her work in musical theater earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical in 2013.

Beyond Broadway, Powers has appeared in numerous productions at The Muny in St. Louis, including Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Mary Poppins in the role of Mary Poppins, The Addams Family as Morticia Addams, Mamma Mia! as Tanya in 2016, Oliver! as Nancy, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers as Milly in 2011, and Camelot as Guenevere. In 2014, she appeared as Antoinette Van Goethem in the musical Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center, and she was set to reprise the role at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle in March 2019.

Powers married Broadway performer Matt Cavenaugh in August 2009. The two appeared together in a 2010 revival of It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman at the Dallas Theater Center and performed together in the concert Muny Magic at The Sheldon in October 2018. The couple had a son in July 2012.