Tessa Kosta

Tessa Kay Kosta (December 12, 1890 – August 23, 1981) was an American actress who performed in Broadway musicals and operettas during the early twentieth century. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was the daughter of Edward and Emma Kosta, who had emigrated from Hungary in the year of her birth. The family relocated first to San Francisco, where her father worked as a confectioner, and later to Ely, Nevada, where Kosta graduated from Ely High School in 1907. Before entering college in Salt Lake City, she studied music at the Holy Rosary Academy in San Bernardino, California.

Kosta's professional breakthrough arrived in February 1911 when producer George W. Lederer selected her from the chorus to take on the title role of Yvonne Sherry in road productions of his Broadway musical Madame Sherry. She remained with that production for more than a year to favorable notices. In late 1912 she toured as Claudine in the musical comedy The Pink Lady, appearing opposite Olga De Baugh and Harry Depp.

Her Broadway debut came on April 13, 1914, at the Astor Theatre, where she played Anna Budd in the musical comedy The Beauty Shop. Kosta's Broadway career extended across at least fifteen years and encompassed a range of productions, including Chu Chin Chow in 1917 and 1918, Lassie in 1920, The Chocolate Soldier in 1921 and 1922, Caroline in 1923, The Royal Vagabond, and Song of the Flame in 1926. Her final Broadway appearance came in 1929 at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, where she played the multiple roles of Musette, Irma, and Lieutenant Fedor in The Fortune Teller.

Away from the stage, Kosta was married to Richard J. Madden, a theatrical agent. She served on the board of directors of the Episcopal Actors Guild, the Ziegfeld Girl's Club, and the Twelfth Night Club. In the decades following her retirement from performing, she made numerous trips abroad. Kosta died in Manhattan of a heart attack in 1981 at the age of 90, having outlived her husband.