Lindsay Mendez

Lindsay Michelle Mendez, born on March 1, 1983, in Norwalk, California, is an American actress and singer whose career has centered on Broadway musical theatre. Her father is of Mexican descent and her mother is of Russian Jewish ancestry. Her brother, Michael Mendez, is also a Broadway performer. Mendez made her Broadway debut in 2007 in the second revival of Grease, playing Jan. Her Broadway career extended through 2023 and encompassed a wide range of productions, including Godspell, Everyday Rapture, Significant Other, and Wicked, in which she played Elphaba during the production's tenth anniversary.

Mendez's off-Broadway work includes a 2012 production of Dogfight, in which she played Rose opposite Derek Klena as Eddie at New York Theater Workshop. The performance earned her nominations for the 2013 Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance, the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and the 2013 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. Mendez and Klena also released a jazz album together titled This Time in 2013 and have performed together at the Broadway supper club 54 Below. Mendez additionally performs jazz and blues at cabarets and dining clubs with pianist Marco Paguia. In 2014, she played Naomi Rodriguez in Lin-Manuel Miranda's one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and in 2015 she appeared in the play Significant Other on Broadway.

Her most decorated stage role to date came with the 2018 Broadway revival of Carousel, in which she played Carrie Pipperidge alongside Jessie Mueller and Joshua Henry. The performance earned her both the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. In 2022, Mendez played Mary Flynn in an off-Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along at New York Theater Workshop, appearing alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and former Wicked co-star Katie Rose Clarke. She reprised the role when the production transferred to Broadway in October 2023 as the first Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along, earning a second Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Beyond the stage, Mendez co-starred on the CBS legal drama All Rise from September 2019 to November 2023, playing court stenographer Sara Castillo. She also appeared in the Ryan Murphy-produced anthology series American Sports Story. Outside of performing, Mendez co-founded Actor Therapy with composer Ryan Scott Oliver, a five-week training program for young actors in New York City.

Mendez has one daughter named Lucy from a previous relationship. In April 2024, she married her All Rise co-star J. Alex Brinson in a ceremony held in Central Park, with Merrily We Roll Along castmate Jonathan Groff officiating and Daniel Radcliffe serving as ring bearer. The couple's daughter, Ruby Beck Brinson, was born on September 19, 2024.