Watch Kristin Chenoweth Online

Chenoweth was born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth (she added an "n" in her first name later because she thought that "Kristin" was a more operatic name than "Kristi") in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and was adopted at birth. Chenoweth's ancestry includes one-quarter Cherokee lineage. After studying drama at Broken Arrow High School under Billie Sue Thompson, Chenoweth attended Oklahoma City University, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta (Beta Omicron) Sorority. She earned a bachelor's degree in musical theater and a master's degree in opera performance, studying under Florence Birdwell who taught Miss America 1981 Susan Powell and three-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara. While at OCU, Chenoweth won the title of "Miss OCU" and went on to win first runner-up in the Miss Oklahoma pageant in 1991. She also performed at Opryland USA.

Chenoweth won a "most talented up-and-coming singer" award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, which came with a full scholarship to Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts. Two weeks before school started, she went to New York City to help a friend move. While there, she auditioned for the Paper Mill Playhouse's production of the musical Animal Crackers and got the role of Arabella Rittenhouse. She turned down the scholarship and moved to New York to do the show and pursue a career in musical theater.

Theatre

Chenoweth made her Broadway debut in a production of Molière's Scapin starring Bill Irwin, followed in the spring of 1997 by the musical Steel Pier by John Kander and Fred Ebb, for which she won a Theatre World award. The following season, she appeared in the City Center Encores! production of the George and Ira Gershwin musical Strike Up the Band and the Lincoln Center Theater production of William Finn's A New Brain. She has performed several times on the radio program A Prairie Home Companion.

During the 1998–1999 season, she performed the role of Sally in the Broadway revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The production won Chenoweth the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards as the season's Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She then starred in the Broadway comedy Epic Proportions, followed by appearances in ABC's television adaptation of the musical Annie (as Lily St. Regis), and in the leading role of Daisy Gamble in the City Center Encores! production of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

In 2003, Chenoweth performed songs from her album Let Yourself Go in concert for Lincoln Center's 5th American Songbook. She also performed in City Center Encores! 10th Anniversary Bash. In London, she was involved in Divas at Donmar for director Sam Mendes, then appeared in the Actor's Fund Benefit Concert of the musical Funny Girl in New York City.

In October 2003, Chenoweth returned to Broadway in Wicked, the smash hit musical about the early years of the witches of Oz. She was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance as Glinda. After playing Glinda for nine months (not including the years leading up to the Broadway run where she played the role in all of the show's workshops), Chenoweth left Wicked on July 18, 2004 along with co-stars Joel Grey and Norbert Leo Butz. Chenoweth was replaced by Jennifer Laura Thompson.

Chenoweth played Cunegonde in a revival of Candide, directed by Lonny Price in 2004. Price's semi-staged concert production with the New York Philharmonic under conductor Marin Alsop, ran for four performances between May 5, 2004 and May 8, 2004. The production featured Paul Groves as Candide, Sir Thomas Allen as Dr. Pangloss, Tony Award winner Patti LuPone as the Old Lady, with choruses from both Westminster Choir College and the Juilliard School completing the performance cast, and was also broadcast on PBS's Great Performances. A performance of the rarely sung duet "We Are Women" between Cunegonde and the Old Lady was included in the production.

From December 14, 2006 to March 11, 2007, Chenoweth starred on Broadway in a production of The Apple Tree and received rave reviews for her performance. On January 19, 2007, she performed a solo concert at The Metropolitan Opera in New York, only the third musical theatre star ever to present a solo concert at the Met, following Barbara Cook and Yves Montand. Chenoweth has also performed leading roles at the Goodspeed Opera House and the Guthrie Theatre, and she was chosen by the late Jerome Robbins as the guest soloist in his West Side Story Suite of Dances at New York City Ballet.

Chenoweth hosted the 52nd Annual Drama Desk Awards on May 20, 2007.

Chenoweth played Elizabeth in the pre-Broadway workshop in Mel Brooks' Broadway adaptation of his film Young Frankenstein, however, due to her Pushing Daisies commitments, she was unable to appear in the production. Similarly, in 2008 she had been scheduled to reprise her role as Cunegonde in an English National Opera production of Candide , but she had to pull out because of the resumption of filming.

Television and film

In television, Chenoweth starred in a short-lived sitcom, Kristin, for NBC that ran for six episodes (13 were filmed). It was a mid-season replacement in 2001 that co-starred Jon Tenney. Beginning in the sixth season (2004–2005) of The West Wing, Chenoweth had a recurring role playing media consultant Annabeth Schott, and became a main cast member in the show's seventh and final season (2005 - 2006). She performed "For Good," a song she had sung in Wicked, at the memorial service for her friend and West Wing costar John Spencer.

Chenoweth was a part of ABC's An American Celebration at Ford's Theater with Kelsey Grammer, NBC's Salute to the Olympic Winners, The Kennedy Center Gala honoring Julie Andrews, and an episode of Frasier on NBC. She also starred as Marian Paroo in the ABC television production of Meredith Willson's The Music Man, opposite Matthew Broderick.

Chenoweth appeared in Nora Ephron's 2005 film version of Bewitched. The film's star, Nicole Kidman, had attended a performance of Wicked and was so impressed with Chenoweth's charisma and stage presence that Kidman asked Ephron to cast Chenoweth in the film. Chenoweth got the part of Maria Kelly, Kidman's character's best friend. In 2006, she appeared in five films including The Pink Panther, RV, Stranger Than Fiction, Running with Scissors and Deck the Halls. Chenoweth also appeared as Ms. Noodle in Sesame Street's Elmo's World television series alongside Michael Jeter and Bill Irwin.

In February of 2007, Chenoweth co-hosted on an episode of The View and was invited back after performing a song from The Apple Tree on the show. She was also featured briefly in the first season finale of Ugly Betty. In fall 2007, she became a member of the cast of the ABC show Pushing Daisies. The comedic drama is the story of Ned, a man who can bring the dead back to life. Chenoweth plays Olive Snook, a co-worker and neighbor of Ned's who is in love with him. Chenoweth sang "Hopelessly Devoted To You" (originally performed by Olivia Newton-John in the musical film Grease) in the second episode of season one. She has received good reviews including many that say she is perfect for the role. She received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 2008 for her role as Olive in Pushing Daisies. On February 24, 2008 Chenoweth sang "That's How You Know" from the movie Enchanted at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in the Kodak theatre.

Upcoming roles

• Chenoweth is slated to portray Dusty Springfield in an upcoming film on the singer's life.
• She will provide the voice of Rosetta in the new Disney Fairies made-for-video CGI animated movie Tinker Bell in 2008, the voice of an alien named Kilowatt in the animated film Space Chimps, and will voice the title role for the upcoming Disney animated film Rapunzel.
• Chenoweth is scheduled to return to the Met in 2010 to play Samira in John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles after being invited by Peter Gelb to perform.
• She will appear in the upcoming holiday romantic comedy film Four Christmases, playing the sister of Reese Witherspoon's character.
• Recently, Chenoweth signed on to star as a "suicidal prostitute" in the indie drama Into Temptation under writer-director Patrick Coyle.

Chenoweth has agreed to write a memoir about her life, describing her adoption, her turn in Wicked and her time in Hollywood. She has stated that the book will not be a 'tell all' one, and instead will focus on "how I got where I am so far." The planned date of publication is April 14, 2009. The title has been revealed to be A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages.

Faith

Chenoweth has spoken publicly about her faith; she describes herself as a non-judgmental Christian. Raised as a Southern Baptist, she later chose to have a personal connection to a faith that is not based in any one denomination. When in California, she attends a non-denominational church in Malibu. In New York, she attends a United Methodist Church.

Chenoweth also has a large gay fanbase, and was uninvited from a Women of Faith conference in September 2005 "due to her publicized and heartfelt beliefs that God is accepting of all people on earth", including homosexuals.

Chenoweth released an album in April 2005 called As I Am, a mixture of hymns and contemporary Christian music, with adult contemporary arrangements. To promote the album, she made an appearance on The 700 Club, an appearance that upset some of her gay fans. She later said she thought that the "Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world are scary" and that she regretted appearing on the show.

Relationships

Chenoweth was once engaged to actor Marc Kudisch and previously dated virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell.

She also dated writer Aaron Sorkin. In Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the character of Harriet Hayes bears significant resemblances to Chenoweth (a Christian in Hollywood).

She is reportedly dating 25 year old producer, writer and director Charlie McDowell, who was her date to the 2008 Tony Awards.

She and on-off again flame Aaron Sorkin are on again, reports confirm. He was her date to the ABC'S TCA Press Tour.