Phoebe Strole

Phoebe Strole is an American actress born on January 22, 1983, in Fort Worth, Texas. She attended Southwest High School in Fort Worth, where she performed in productions at Casa Mañana Theatre, including Evita, Violet, and Bye Bye Birdie. In 2001, she appeared as Jean in A Different Moon at the Penguin Repertory Theatre in Stony Point, New York, with additional credits there including Animal of the Year. Strole went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2006, where her credits included a reading of When Grace Comes In opposite Marcia Gay Harden.

Strole is best known for originating the role of Anna in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening, also understudying the roles of Wendla and Ilse. She first played the role in the Off Broadway production during the summer of 2006 before the show made its Broadway debut on December 10, 2006. She remained with the production through July 19, 2008, a final performance she shared with castmates Skylar Astin, Remy Zaken, Brian Charles Johnson, and Lilli Cooper. At 23 years old when cast, she was the eldest original Broadway cast member playing a principal role. Her work on the production earned her a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Musical Show Album.

Following Spring Awakening, Strole appeared in The New Group's production of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra at the Alcorn Theatre in New York, which ran from January 27 to April 18, 2009. Later that year, she performed in Parade at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles from September 24 to November 19, 2009. In 2010, she played Vera Dundee in The Metal Children, written and directed by Adam Rapp, at the Vineyard Theatre from May 5 to June 13. She appeared in Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal at Playwrights Horizons from March through April 2012, and the following year was seen alongside Edie Falco in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of The Madrid, which ran from February 5 to May 5, 2013. In early 2014, she appeared in the Signature Theatre Company production of Kung Fu by David Henry Hwang at the Pershing Square Signature Center, and in October of that year played Lena in The Other Room as part of Premieres' Inner Voices series. In 2022, Strole participated in the HBO documentary Spring Awakening: Those You've Known, marking the fifteenth anniversary reunion of the original cast.

Strole's film credits include the 2008 comedy Hamlet 2, in which she played Epiphany Sellars alongside Steve Coogan and Spring Awakening co-star Skylar Astin, contributing vocals to the soundtrack on the songs "Raped in the Face" and "Rock Me Sexy Jesus." She starred as Sara in the 2009 film Sorority Wars, with additional film appearances in Descent and My One and Only. In 2006, she narrated the role of Clare in an audiobook adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, published by Audible and HighBridge, with Fred Berman narrating the role of Henry. On television, she held a recurring role as Jennifer on the FX series Rescue Me and made guest appearances on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, 30 Rock, Mercy, and Stella. In 2013, she appeared in two episodes of Glee's fifth season, playing Penny Owen, a college sophomore and love interest to the character Sam Evans.