Lauren Kennedy

Lauren Kennedy, born September 3, 1973, in Raleigh, North Carolina, is an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spanned from 1987 to 2009. She currently serves as the producing artistic director of Theatre Raleigh in her home state.

Kennedy was raised in Raleigh and attended Needham Broughton High School, graduating in 1991. During her high school years she began performing with the North Carolina Theatre. She subsequently enrolled in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre, but left at age 19 after being cast in the 1993 Los Angeles production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, in which she played Mary/1st Masseuse and understudied the role of Betty Schaeffer under Judy Kuhn. Following a nine-month run in Los Angeles, she moved to New York for the musical's 1994 Broadway opening, where she continued in the same capacity, this time understudying under Alice Ripley. She subsequently performed the role of Betty Schaeffer on the national tour from 1995 to 1997.

Her additional Broadway credits include Side Show, in which she served as standby for Emily Skinner in the role of Daisy Hilton during the show's 1997 run; Les Misérables, in which she played Fantine from 2002 to 2003; and Monty Python's Spamalot, where she stepped into the role of the Lady of the Lake as the first replacement from 2006 to 2007. She also appeared on Broadway in Cinderella with the New York City Opera. Her work is documented on several cast recordings, including the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Side Show and the Original Cast Recording of Sunset Boulevard.

Beyond Broadway, Kennedy originated the role of Cathy in Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years at its 2001 Chicago premiere. She was subsequently replaced by Sherie Rene Scott when the production moved Off-Broadway, as Kennedy had chosen instead to perform the role of Ensign Nellie Forbush in South Pacific at the National Theatre in London, a run that lasted from 2001 to 2002 and is documented on the 2002 Royal National Theatre recording. In 2004, she played Emma Carew in the concert-style Jekyll & Hyde production titled Resurrection, opposite Kate Shindle and Rob Evan, before departing the tour prior to its conclusion. That same year she appeared as Princess Nefertari in The Ten Commandments: The Musical at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles opposite Val Kilmer, a production also captured on DVD. In 2005, she starred as Zelda Fitzgerald in the world premiere of Frank Wildhorn and Jack Murphy's Waiting for the Moon at the Lenape Performing Arts Center in Marlton, New Jersey, earning a Barrymore Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. From 2007 through 2009 she worked on the Wildhorn and Murphy musical Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure.

Kennedy's Off-Broadway credits include Vanities, A New Musical, in which she played Mary at Second Stage Theatre in 2009 following the production's run at the Pasadena Playhouse, and Good Ol' Girls in 2010. Both productions have cast recordings. She has also released two solo albums on PS Classics: Songs of Jason Robert Brown and Here and Now, the latter dedicated to new musical writers.

Her regional stage work has been extensive. Notable credits include the role of Diana Goodman in the North Carolina Theatre's 2015 production of Next to Normal, Eva Perón in Evita at both the North Carolina Theatre and Casa Mañana in Fort Worth in 2011, Violet Karl in Violet at Theatre Raleigh in 2011, and Martha Jefferson in 1776 at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2009. She has returned repeatedly to the North Carolina Theatre, appearing in productions including Annie Get Your Gun, Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia, and 9 to 5. In addition to her performing career, Kennedy leads Theatre Raleigh as its producing artistic director.