Jessica Lee Goldyn

Jessica Lee Goldyn, born December 26, 1985, is an American musical theatre actress, singer, and dancer whose Broadway career spans from 2006 to 2019. She is best known for originating the role of Val in the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line and for being among the few original revival cast members who remained with the production through its closing.

Goldyn grew up in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, where her mother taught her dance before she was old enough to attend formal classes. She began competing in gymnastics around age 7. At 12, she made her professional stage debut in the ensemble of Gypsy at Paper Mill Playhouse in September 1998, the same venue where she had been cast in a production of the show during her early years. Throughout her teenage years, she performed nearly every female role in A Chorus Line, including a female version of Mike. Goldyn trained with the New Jersey Ballet Company and studied and taught at Worth Tyrrell Studios. She attended the Professional Performing Arts School in New York but left without graduating, earning her GED after being hired in a non-Equity tour of Fosse. She was a Children's Foundation for the Arts grant recipient from 1998 to 2003.

Goldyn made her Broadway debut on October 5, 2006, opening as Val in the revival of A Chorus Line. At the production's auditions, she had originally been considered as a cover for Val before winning the role outright at the final callback. She went on to serve as an understudy for the lead role of Cassie and stepped into that part opposite Mario Lopez as Zack beginning August 10, 2008, formally replacing Charlotte d'Amboise from August 13 through the revival's closing performance on August 17, 2008. She later reprised the role of Cassie at Paper Mill Playhouse in their production of A Chorus Line, running October 7 through October 28, 2012.

Goldyn returned to Broadway in 2015 in Finding Neverland at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. The following year she appeared in Tuck Everlasting, which opened April 26, 2016, at the Broadhurst Theatre. The production ran 28 previews and 39 regular performances before closing on May 29, 2016. From 2017 to 2018, she performed in the ensemble of the Bette Midler-led revival of Hello, Dolly! at the Shubert Theatre. She succeeded Robin Hurder as Nini in Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, beginning February 22, 2022, and departing the role on April 9, 2023.

Beyond Broadway, Goldyn portrayed Ivy in On the Town as part of New York City Center's 2008–2009 Encores! season, a production that was part of a citywide celebration of composer Leonard Bernstein's 90th birthday. The cast included Justin Bohon, Christian Borle, Tony Yazbeck, Leslie Kritzer, and Jennifer Laura Thompson. In July 2009, she starred as Polly in Maine State Music Theatre's production of Crazy for You opposite Yazbeck. That same summer, from July 30 to August 9, 2009, she choreographed Sweet Charity at The Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, New York, using original Fosse choreography. In June 2010, she returned to Paper Mill Playhouse as Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, and in August 2010 she replaced Felicia Finley as Lola in Damn Yankees at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport. In January and February 2019, she starred as Roxie Hart in the Fulton Theatre's production of Chicago alongside fellow A Chorus Line cast member Heather Parcells, who played Velma. Her regional credits also include Sweet Charity, in which she played Charity, A Christmas Carol at North Shore Music Theatre, and Pippin at the Arvada Center. She played the title role in Annie at age 21.

In her personal life, Goldyn has been open on Instagram about her sobriety, which began in 2013. In March 2023, she became engaged to performer Blake Zelesnikar, whose credits include national tours of Mean Girls, An American in Paris, The Phantom of the Opera, and Flashdance the Musical.