Sophie Hayden

Sophie Hayden, born Sophie Ann Schwab on February 23, 1954, in Miami, Florida, is an American actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1979 to 1997. She was raised in North Java, New York, and completed her secondary education at Attica Central High School. In 1971, she was crowned world champion baton twirler. She subsequently studied acting at Northwestern University before relocating to New York in 1976. Prior to her Broadway work, she adopted the stage name Sophie Hayden in honor of ballerina Melissa Hayden, a change she made shortly before appearing in The Comedy of Errors.

Hayden made her Broadway debut in 1979 in The King of Schnorrers. The following year, she was part of the original cast of Barnum. In 1987, she appeared in a production of The Comedy of Errors at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Her most prominent Broadway credit came through the 1992 revival of The Most Happy Fella, in which she played Rosabella. She had joined the production during its earlier run in East Haddam, Connecticut, in 1991, and the show's transfer to Broadway was postponed until after Hayden, who was pregnant during the Connecticut engagement, gave birth. The revival opened in January 1992 and ran through August of that year. Her portrayal of Rosabella earned her both a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, both in 1992. In 1997, she appeared at the Music Box Theatre as Edith Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, a stage adaptation of Diary of a Young Girl. She also appeared on Broadway in The Show Off.

Hayden married in 1980 and has one child. Her Broadway career, anchored by her Tony- and Drama Desk-nominated performance in The Most Happy Fella, established her as a notable presence in American theater across nearly two decades.