Sophie Evans

Sophie Evans, born Sophie Gwen Jenkins on 13 February 1993 in the Rhondda Valley, Wales, is a Welsh singer and actress who grew up in Tonypandy, where she attended Tonypandy Community College as a sixth-form student. Her parents are David and Michelle Evans, and she has a younger sister, Beth. From a young age, Evans performed with the Mid-Rhondda Operatic Society, and she also appeared in school productions and featured in a Joshua Foundation Show at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

Evans came to wider public attention in 2010 as the runner-up on Over the Rainbow, a BBC reality competition in which contestants vied for the role of Dorothy Gale in Andrew Lloyd Webber's forthcoming West End production of The Wizard of Oz. She reached the final alongside Danielle Hope and Lauren Samuels, with the two-part finale airing on 22 May 2010 and Hope declared the winner. Prior to Over the Rainbow, Evans had accumulated several television credits, including appearances on the 2008 series of ITV's The X Factor, CBBC's The Big Performance, S4C's The Big Talent Show, and a BBC Wales centenary documentary about the Tonypandy riots.

Following the competition, Lloyd Webber, working with casting director Bill Kenwright, funded Evans's enrollment in a one-year musical theatre course at the Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick, London. He subsequently cast her as the alternate Dorothy, a role in which she would cover Hope on Tuesday evenings and during periods of illness or holiday. Evans made her professional stage debut in that capacity on 8 March 2011. Initially required to wear a brunette wig over her natural red hair, she was later granted permission by Lloyd Webber to perform with her own hair. On 7 February 2012, Evans assumed the role of Dorothy full-time, remaining in the production until it closed on 2 September 2012. On 15 April 2012, she performed as Dorothy at the Olivier Awards ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London, and that same month she headlined a concert with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Outside of theatre, Evans appeared in the 2013 film The World's End, the final installment of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's Cornetto Trilogy, and in the 2014 film Pride, directed by Matthew Warchus. In early 2014, she was part of an all-star cast in Irving Berlin: From Rags to Ritzes, which began in London before touring nationally. That same year she released an independent debut album, The Studio Sessions (Limited Edition), recorded at Acapella Studios in Pentyrch, Wales. She also recorded a duet with Welsh baritone Mark Llewelyn Evans for his debut album Let the Light In, released in November 2011, and presented and starred in The Really Welsh Christmas Show for BBC Television alongside Michael Ball and Only Boys Aloud, which first aired on BBC One Wales on 19 December 2012.

In October 2015, Evans joined the cast of Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, performing the role of Erin the Goddess. The engagement included a month-long run at the Playhouse Theatre in London, followed by a nine-week run at the Lyric Theatre on Broadway, and a six-week American tour concluding at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for Michael Flatley's final performance. The Broadway engagement marked Evans's credited appearance on Broadway in 2015.

From July 2017, Evans took over the role of Glinda in the West End production of Wicked from Australian actress Suzie Mathers, becoming the youngest person to play the role in London at the age of 24. She starred opposite Alice Fearn as Elphaba and remained in the production until 20 July 2019, when she was replaced by Helen Woolf. Evans returned to the role on 15 September 2021, covering for Woolf during maternity leave and reopening the production after it had been closed since 16 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She departed the production again in January 2022.

In her personal life, Evans and Welsh rugby player Ellis Jenkins, whom she had known since their teenage years, announced their engagement in 2021. They married on 25 June 2022, and their first child was born in December 2022. A second child was born in April 2025.