Kelli O'Hara
Kelli O'Hara
Kelli Christine O'Hara is an American actress and singer. She has appeared on Broadway and Off-Broadway in many musicals since making her Broadway debut as a replacement in Jekyll & Hyde in 2000. A six-time Tony Award nominee, her first nomination was for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the 2005 production of The Light in the Piazza. Her subsequent nominations were for The Pajama Game, South Pacific, Nice Work If You Can Get Itand The Bridges of Madison...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionStage Actress
Date of Birth16 April 1976
CityElk City, OK
CountryUnited States of America
I don't ever sing classically when I am singing a contemporary score - I kind of try to fit in whatever needs to happen.
Playing characters allows me to do things I may not always do, while singing in concerts allows me to really find my own voice and grow.
I've always wanted to do a Shakespeare play.
To play a character is to inhabit the world and the life of that character.
When I'm given an opportunity with music and goodness, then I want to do that [play that role]. I want to go all the way to the edge of that and make it as big as I can.
I loved to sing and I loved to act, and I didn’t want to continue opera because I wanted to act.
I've been singing since I was nine or ten.
Sunday's my favorite day - that one matinee in the middle of the day!
Sometimes I'm considered, I guess, a subtle actor. Maybe I'm less of a showman and more just trying to tell the story. I don't know what the perception is. I just want to tell the story so the story as a whole works as opposed to just making sure that I work.
You can only ask to be respected if you respect yourself.
When I've done TV and film, when it's offered to me, I loved doing it, and I would do it again, but the ins and outs of auditioning is - that's time away from my kids.
I don't want to be famous for being famous.
I feel so rich in my emotions and in my life and so grateful when I'm home and so grateful when I'm at work.
I've always wanted my characters to have more dimension and realistic cores than the ingenue material often provides. It's been a challenge.