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Idina Menzel

Idina Kim Mentzel was born in New York City on May 30th, 1971 to parents Stuart and Helene Mentzel. She changed her surname from Mentzel to Menzel to avoid having it wrongly pronounced. Her family had settled in Long Island by the time she reached the second grade, by which time she had already realized that she wanted to sing.

In fifth grade she played Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz", which could perhaps be referred to as a foreshadowing of the musical role which would later win her a Tony Award, that of the witch Elphaba in the Broadway production of "Wicked". She started taking classes with a voice teacher when she was eight years older, later attending Syosset High School and there being cast as Nettie in "Carousel", continuing to study music classically but gradually drifting further toward R&B. She lied about her age at an audition to become the lead singer for a wedding band, and when she became a student at New York University, she was more focused on getting a record deal and keeping said band together than on her classes, as by now she had begun writing her own songs.

Idina got her "big break" by acting on a whim when she auditioned for the role of Maureen in Jonathan Larson's musical "Rent", a performance for which she obtained her first Tony nomination when the show made it to Broadway. This enabled her to record her own first album and tour with it.

To quote Idina herself, "I played at Lillith Fair, started working on a second album, got dropped by my record label, cried a lot and then went right back to the theatre where I have always felt so comfortable." She has been in various films, recently in the movie, Disney movie, Enchanted starring alongside Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden. She also reprised her role as Elphaba for London's West End production of "Wicked".

Written by Trialia with minor modifications made by yours truly.

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