Kelli O’Hara
O’Hara performing at the National Memorial Day Concert in May 2010
Born	(1976-04-16) April 16, 1976 (age 41) Elk City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	2001–present

Kelli Christine O’Hara (born April 16, 1976)^[1] 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 (2006), South Pacific (2008), Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012) and The Bridges of Madison County (2014),^[2] before winning the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for the 2015 revival of The King and I.

Early life[edit]

O’Hara grew up in Oklahoma in an Irish American family.^[3] She graduated from Deer Creek High School and also attended Oklahoma City University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Music in vocal performance/opera. O’Hara studied voice with Florence Birdwell, who also taught Kristin Chenoweth four years earlier. O’Hara and Chenoweth are both alumnae of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority.

Career[edit]

O’Hara played the role of Young Hattie in the 2001 Broadway revival of Follies, and then played the role of Young Phyllis.^[4] She next appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of Sweet Smell of Success as Susan.^[5] In 2003 she played Albertine in the Off-Broadway Playwrights Horizons production of the musical My Life With Albertine,^[6] and, in 2004, Lucy Westenra in the Broadway production of the musical Dracula.^[7]

She starred as Clara in the 2005 Broadway production of The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center‘s Vivian Beaumont Theatre.^[8] She had appeared in a workshop of the musical at the Theatre Lab at Sundance, and in tryouts in Seattle and Chicago, as the character of Franca.^[9] She received a 2005 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.^[10] O’Hara has been nominated for, or won, a Tony Award for every subsequent role she has played on Broadway.^[11] In her next Broadway musical, she played Babe in the 2006 revival of The Pajama Game, for which she was nominated for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. For this performance, New York Times reviewer Ben Brantley wrote that O’Hara “rockets past the promising ingénue status she attained with Light in the Piazza“.^[12]

In 2007, O’Hara played the role of Dot/Marie in the Los Angeles Reprise! concert staging of Sunday in the Park with George^[13] and Eliza Doolittle in the New York Philharmonic’s semi-staged production of My Fair Lady at Avery Fisher Hall.^[14] She was the voice of producer Beth Totenbag on PBS’s 2008 animated series Click and Clack’s As the Wrench Turns.^{[citation needed]} From 2008 to 2010, O’Hara starred as Nellie Forbush in the Broadway revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater,^[15] for which she was nominated for her third Tony Award.^[16] O’Hara took maternity leave in March 2009 and returned to the musical in October 2009.^[17][18]

O’Hara played the role of Ella Peterson in the 2010 New York City Center Encores! concert presentation of Bells Are Ringing.^[19] She played the role of Ellen in the film Sex and the City 2 (2010), and in 2011 she appeared in “Mercy”, the first episode of the second season of the CBS show Blue Bloods.^[20][21] Also in 2011, she played the role of Amalia in a benefit concert of She Loves Me, presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, in honor of the company’s 20th anniversary. Scott Ellis directed, and the musical director was Paul Gemignani.^[22] She had performed one of the best known songs from the show, “Will He Like Me?”, the previous evening at Kennedy Center in honor of Barbara Cook.^[23]

She starred on Broadway as Billie Bendix in Nice Work If You Can Get It from April 2012 to March 2013 and received her fourth Tony Award nomination.^[24] In 2012, at the New Year’s Eve concert, “Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch”, at Lincoln Center, she sang “At the Ballet”, from A Chorus Line, along with Audra McDonald and Megan Hilty.^[25] In 2013, she played the lead character of Julie in the staged concert of Carousel presented by the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall.^[26] From January to May 2014, she starred as Francesca Johnson in the Broadway musical The Bridges of Madison County, for which she received her fifth Tony Award nomination.^[27] Elyse Sommer, the CurtainUp.com reviewer, noted O’Hara’s “superb vocal chops” and her “exquisite” duets with co-star Steven Pasquale.^[28] She played Mrs. Darling in the 2014 NBC telecast Peter Pan Live!.^[29] She sang two concerts, titled Kelli and Matthew: Home for the Holidays, in December 2014 at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops.^[30] On December 31, 2014, O’Hara made her operatic debut at The Metropolitan Opera as Valencienne in Franz Lehár‘s The Merry Widow, alongside Renee Fleming in the title role.^[31]

She returned to Lincoln Center Theatre to star as Anna Leonowens in the Broadway revival of The King and I opposite Ken Watanabe as The King. The production began previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in March 2015 and opened in April 2015. This role won O’Hara her first Tony Award. O’Hara’s final performance as Anna was on April 17, 2016.^[32] O’Hara made her solo debut concert at Carnegie Hall in October 2016^[33] and guest-starred as the recurring character Dody on the fourth season of Masters of Sex.^[34] She played Fiona in the Encores! production of Brigadoon at New York City Center in November 2017.^[35] Jeremy Gerard of Deadline Hollywood called O’Hara’s performance “luminous”, writing: “O’Hara is impossibly beautiful, vocally and in conveying Fiona’s romantic determination and heartbreak.”^[36]

O’Hara has been cast in the 2018 season of 13 Reasons Why to play Jackie, an anti-bullying advocate.^[37] In 2018 at the Metropolitan Opera, she is set to sing Despina in Così fan tutte.^[38] She has also been cast to reprise her role in The King and I at the London Palladium for a limited run from June to September 2018.^[39] O’Hara is scheduled to return to Broadway in 2019 in Kiss Me, Kate as Lilli Vanessi/Katharine. The production is set to be directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. The revival is produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company, which had produced a benefit concert of the show with O’Hara, Ellis, and Carlyle, in 2016.^[40]

Personal life[edit]

O’Hara is married to Greg Naughton of The Sweet Remains, son of actor James Naughton. Their first child, Owen James, was born on June 27, 2009.^[41] The couple also has a daughter, Charlotte, born in 2013.^[42]

Stage roles[edit]

O’Hara at a NYS ARTS Fall Gala in 2008

Broadway

• Jekyll & Hyde (2000) as Kate (replacement) / Emma (understudy)
• Follies (2001) as Young Hattie/Ensemble, then as Young Phyllis
• Sweet Smell of Success: The Musical (2002) as Susan
• Dracula, the Musical (2004) as Lucy Westenra
• The Light in the Piazza (2005) as Clara Johnson
• The Pajama Game (2006) as Babe Williams
• South Pacific (2008) as Nellie Forbush
• Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012) as Billie Bendix
• The Bridges of Madison County (2014) as Francesca Johnson
• The King and I (2015) as Anna Leonowens

Off-Broadway and regional theatre

• Beauty by Tina Landau (2003) (La Jolla Playhouse)^[43]
• My Life with Albertine (2003) as Albertine (Off-Broadway)
• The Light in the Piazza (2004) as Franca (in Seattle and Chicago)
• Far From Heaven (2012) as Cathy Whitaker (developmental premiere, Williamstown Theatre Festival)^[44]

Operatic repertoire

• The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár (2014) as Valencienne (Metropolitan Opera)
• Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell (2016) as Dido (MasterVoices and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s)^[45]
• Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (2018) as Despina (Metropolitan Opera)^[38]

Discography[edit]

• 2008 Wonder in the World
• 2011 Always

Cast recordings

• 2002 Sweet Smell of Success
• 2003 My Life with Albertine
• 2005 The Light in the Piazza
• 2006 Harry on Broadway, Act I—two-disc set: 1. Original Broadway cast recording The Pajama Game; 2. Songs from Thou Shalt Not, Harry Connick, Jr. featuring Kelli O’Hara
• 2008 South Pacific
• 2012 Nice Work If You Can Get It
• 2014 The Bridges of Madison County
• 2015 The King and I

Soundtracks

• 2014 Peter Pan Live!

Awards and nominations[edit]

Roles (18)

	The King and I (2015) Opened Apr 16, 2015	as Anna Leonowens (Original)		Departed on Apr 17, 2016
	The Bridges of Madison County (2014) Opened Feb 20, 2014	as Francesca (Original)
	Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012) Opened Apr 24, 2012	as Billie Bendix (Original)		Departed on Mar 24, 2013
	South Pacific (2008) Opened Apr 3, 2008	as Ensign Nellie Forbush (Original) as Ensign Nellie Forbush (Replacement)		Mar 1, 2008 – Jan 3, 2010 Oct 12, 2009 – Jan 4, 2010 + Additional Dates Aug 10, 2010 – Aug 22, 2010
	The Pajama Game (2006) Opened Feb 23, 2006	as Babe Williams (Original)
	The Light in the Piazza (2005) Opened Apr 18, 2005	as Clara Johnson (Original)
	Dracula, the Musical (2004) Opened Aug 19, 2004	as Lucy Westenra (Original)
	Sweet Smell of Success (2002) Opened Mar 14, 2002	as Susan (Original)
	Follies (2001) Opened Apr 5, 2001	as Young Hattie (Original) as Ensemble (Original) as Young Phyllis (Replacement) as Young Sally (Understudy – Original) as Young Phyllis (Understudy – Original) as Young Heidi (Understudy – Original)
	Jekyll & Hyde (1997) Opened Apr 28, 1997	as Kate (Replacement) as Emma Carew (Understudy – Replacement)		Jul 20, 2000 – Jan 7, 2001