Linzi Hateley

Linzi Hateley is an English stage actress born on 23 October 1970 in Birmingham, England. As a child she trained at the Italia Conti Academy and gained early performance experience playing one of the orphans in the stage musical Annie. She also appeared in multiple episodes of the BBC children's television series Grange Hill.

Hateley made her Broadway debut in 1988 in the title role of Carrie, a production she had first performed in Stratford-upon-Avon before it transferred to New York. The role earned her a Theatre World Award in 1988. The musical was short-lived, but the credit marked the beginning of a substantial stage career.

Her London work has spanned a wide range of productions and roles. She originated the role of Martha in The Secret Garden and played Winifred Banks in the original production of Mary Poppins in the West End. Her credits also include Nancy in Oliver!, Roxie Hart in Chicago, and both Éponine and Madame Thenardier in Les Misérables. In 2007 she took on the role of Donna in Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre, a run that continued through 2009 with an additional stint in 2010, and she returned to the role at the Novello Theatre on 13 June 2016.

One of Hateley's most prominent West End associations has been with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She played the Narrator in the original London revival production, a performance for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical at the age of 21 in 1992, making her one of the youngest nominees in that category. She returned to the role in 2021 at the London Palladium and subsequently joined a UK tour of the production in 2022.

Hateley has also worked in film and recording. She had a small role in the 2012 Les Misérables film, appearing among the women in the sequence "Turning," and that same year she appeared in the National Theatre's revival production of London Road, playing the character Helen. In 2008 she contributed a recording to Act One: Songs From The Musicals Of Alexander S. Bermange, a collection of twenty new recordings by twenty-six West End performers released on Dress Circle Records in November of that year. She has released three solo albums: For The First Time in 1992, Sooner or Later in 1994, and True Colours in 2001.

From September 2023 to March 2024, Hateley originated the role of Fran Fraser in the world premiere of The Little Big Things at @sohoplace. In late 2024 and into 2025, she reprised the role of Madame Thenardier in Les Misérables as part of the Arena Concert World Tour.