Menzel made her Broadway debut as one of the original cast members in <a href="http://www.siteforrent.com/">Rent</a>, receiving a Tony nomination for her portrayal of Maureen. She also earned a Drama Desk nomination for her performance as Kate in MTC's The Wild Party. She originated the role of Dorothy in Summer of '42 at Goodspeed, starred as Sheila in the Encores! Production of Hair and appeared on Broadway as Amneris in <a href="http://www.musical-aida.com/">Aida</a>. Other Off-Broadway credits include Rent and The Vagina Monologues. In film, she has appeared in Summer of Sam, Just a Kiss, Kissing Jessica Stein, Tollbooth, and Water. Recently, she finished filming Ask the Dust, which is due in late 2005. She also reprised her role of "Maureen Johnson" in the film version of Rent, to be released wide on 23 November 2005. She performed at the 1998 <a href="http://www.lilithfair.com/">Lilith Fair</a> summer concert festival, had her debut album Still I Can't Be Still released on Hollywood Records and continues to write and perform original music. Menzel holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from NYU's <a href="http://www.tisch.nyu.edu/">Tisch School of the Arts</a>. She is married to fellow performer <a href="http://dmoz.org/Arts/Performing_Arts/Acting/Actors_and_Actresses/D/Diggs,_Taye/">Taye Diggs</a> and appeared on Broadway in <a href="http://www.wickedthemusical.com/">Wicked</a> where she received her first Tony award (Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical). (Aug 2005)

Idina Menzel United States 1971 Idina Kim Mentzel