Laura Benanti Biography

Fast Facts

• Was inspired to become an actress at the age of 3 by a video of a Snow White play that a friend of her mother's was in
• Says she was something of an "ugly duckling" while growing up
• Studies voice with her mother, Linda, a former Broadway performer
• Began her Broadway career at 18 when she was cast as the Maria understudy in The Sound of Music; she took over the role a year later when original star Rebecca Luker left the show
• Fractured her neck in a pratfall during a 2002 production of Into the Woods; the injury went undiagnosed for nine months
• Enjoys songwriting