Marissa Perry

Marissa Perry is an American actress and singer born on May 5, 1985, in Waterbury, Connecticut. Her Broadway career spanned from 2002 to 2011 and included appearances in two musicals: Hairspray and Sister Act.

Perry's path to Broadway in Hairspray began at the Weston Playhouse in Weston, Vermont, where she was performing the role of Tracy Turnblad when songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman attended a performance and encouraged her to audition for the Broadway production. She was subsequently cast as an understudy for the role and was later elevated to performing it full-time. The role of Tracy Turnblad became a recurring credit for Perry beyond Broadway. In 2009, she reprised the character at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois, in a production that ran from September 23 through December 6. She returned to the role again in 2010 for the Reagle Music Theatre production of Hairspray, a performance that earned her a nomination for the IRNE Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Perry's second Broadway credit came with Sister Act, in which she was part of the ensemble and also served as understudy for the role of Sister Mary Patrick. She held that position from the production's opening on April 20, 2011, through its closing on August 26, 2012.

Prior to her Broadway work, Perry appeared in several regional theatre productions. These included the world premiere of Princesses at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, with the production also playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington. She additionally appeared in Wild Mushrooms at the Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, Connecticut.