Scarlett Strallen

Scarlett Aimee Vaigncourt-Strallen, born on 3 July 1982, is an English actress and singer whose career has spanned musical theatre productions in the West End and on Broadway from 2006 to 2025. She is the eldest of four sisters — Summer, Zizi, and Saskia Strallen — all of whom are also actresses. Her parents, Sandy Strallen and Cherida Langford, both performed in the original London production of Cats, having met before that production. Strallen is the niece of stage and television actress Bonnie Langford, her mother's sister, and her godfather is Christopher Biggins.

Strallen began accumulating West End credits in ensemble roles, appearing in The Witches of Eastwick in 2000, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 2002 as Truly Scrumptious, and Mamma Mia!. She first took on the title role of Mary Poppins in the West End production at the Prince Edward Theatre in 2005, replacing original cast member Laura Michelle Kelly opposite Gavin Lee as Bert. She departed in 2006 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor in Stratford, where she played Anne Page, before returning to Mary Poppins in 2007 as a replacement for Lisa O'Hare and remaining with the production until it closed in January 2008. Her performance in the role earned her a nomination for the Best Takeover Role Award at the 2006 Theatregoers' Choice Awards. In 2008, Strallen brought the role to Broadway, replacing Ashley Brown and performing in the production through October 2009, when Laura Michelle Kelly succeeded her. She later reprised the role in the Sydney production from November to December 2011, and joined Lisa O'Hare and Caroline Sheen for a special benefit concert of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe's songs, titled A Spoonful of Stiles and Drewe, at Her Majesty's Theatre.

Strallen's other stage work during this period included playing Marian Paroo in The Music Man at the Chichester Festival Theatre during the 2008 season and Clara in Passion at the Donmar Warehouse in 2010. In 2011, she originated the role of Kathy Selden in a UK revival of Singin' in the Rain, which opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre before transferring to the West End's Palace Theatre. That performance earned her a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2012. The following year, she originated the role of Cassie in a West End revival of A Chorus Line at the London Palladium, directed by original choreographer Bob Avian, which ran from February through 31 August 2013. Later in 2013, Strallen joined the Menier Chocolate Factory production of Candide as Cunegonde, a run that extended from 23 November 2013 to 22 February 2014. On 5 September 2015, she made her Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall, performing the coloratura aria Glitter and Be Gay alongside other highlights from Candide with the John Wilson Orchestra.

Strallen's Broadway credits reflect a range of productions across nearly two decades. In addition to Mary Poppins, she appeared in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2015, playing Sibella. She took on the role of Gwendolen in Travesties at the American Airlines Theatre in 2018, and most recently appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in 2025. Her stage work has also extended beyond Broadway and the West End; she played Lady Macduff in a 2014 production of Macbeth at the Park Avenue Armory, portrayed Nell Gwynn at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2018, played Amalia Balash in She Loves Me at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2016, and performed the role of Laurey in Oklahoma! at the BBC Proms in 2017.

Earlier in her career, Strallen received an Olivier Award nomination in 2006 for her portrayal of Josephine in an adaptation of H.M.S. Pinafore at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Beyond the stage, she has worked as a voice actress, providing the voice of The Princess in the 1995 animated film The Snow Queen and lending her voice to the animated television series The Dreamstone, The Big Knights, and Molly's Gang. As a child, she voiced Matilda Wormwood in an audio dramatisation of Roald Dahl's Matilda in 1990, released as part of the Roald Dahl Theatre Collection. She has also appeared in productions for BBC Radio 4.

In her personal life, Strallen was married to musical director Nicholas Skilbeck from 2010 to 2014. She is currently married to actor Bryce Pinkham, and the two have two children together. Her sister Zizi Strallen also performed the role of Mary Poppins, first in a UK tour and subsequently in the West End.