Kissy Simmons

Kissy Simmons is an American actress whose nickname derives from Kissimmee, the Florida city near Orlando, approximately 80 miles from Floral City, where she was born. A multi-sport athlete in her youth, Simmons won the state high-jump championship while attending Citrus High School in Florida and subsequently enrolled at the University of South Florida on a full track scholarship. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in speech communications before pursuing a modeling and theatre career in the Tampa Bay area.

Simmons built her early professional stage experience in the Tampa Bay region, taking on roles that included the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Ronnette in Little Shop of Horrors, and a role in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. These credits preceded her transition to Broadway, where she appeared between 1997 and 2002. Her Broadway work centered on The Lion King, in which she played Nala, the role for which she became most widely recognized.

Her association with The Lion King extended well beyond her Broadway run. In 2009, Simmons began reprising the role of Nala in the Las Vegas production of the show at Mandalay Bay, with that engagement beginning on May 5, 2009. The production continued to occupy her through at least 2011.

Outside of her stage performances, Simmons accumulated a number of notable appearances during the late 2000s. In April 2008, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall performing at the New York Pops 25th Annual Spring Gala, and the following month she appeared alongside Ashley Brown and Sierra Boggess at the New York Pops 25th Birthday Gala. On September 15, 2008, Simmons was among eleven members of the Lion King cast selected to perform at a State Dinner at the White House, an invitation that came directly from First Lady Laura Bush, who had attended the production during its Kennedy Center engagement.