Erika Henningsen

At 32 years old, Erika Henningsen has this physical status:

Erika Leigh Henningsen (born August 13, 1992) is an American actress and singer.

She is best known for her Broadway appearances and her role in the development of Cady Heron in the 2018 Tony-nominated musical Mean Girls, for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination.

Early life and education

Henningsen was born and raised in Moraga, California. She is the youngest of three daughters born to Phil and Marybeth Henningsen.

Henningsen began performing after her parents discovered her love for "talking and being in front of others" from a young age. Her interest in theatre had piqued after reading the poem "The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven" and hearing the audience's cheering reaction to her performance at the age of seven. Henningsen, a 14-year-old actress, was cast in a Grey Gardens local production, and she has stated in interviews that after performing in this performance, she knew she wanted to pursue musical theatre as a career.

Henningsen earned a BFA in musical theatre at Campolindo High School in 2010 and then studied at the University of Michigan, earning a BFA in musical theatre in 2014. She also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London as a student through the NYU London program. Henningsen was selected recipient of the 2014 Alan Eisenberg Memorial Scholarship, an award given to a University of Michigan graduating senior for "outstanding talent and career potential" in musical theatre.

Personal life

Since 2017, Henningson has been in a relationship with Mean Girls costar Kyle Selig. On July 1, 2021, the two announced their engagement.

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Career

Penny Pingleton, a teenager, appeared in her first professional performance in Hairspray at the Woodminster Amphitheater in Oakland, California, in 2010.

In November 2014, Kim Ravenal made her New York Philharmonic debut as Kim Ravenal in a staged concert performance of Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat. On October 16, 2015, a live taping of the program aired on PBS.

Henningsen appeared in the musical Diner, based on Barry Levinson's 1982 film of the same name, with music and lyrics by Sheryl Crow. With a sold-out run at the Signature Theatre in Washington, D.C., from December 9, 2014 to January 25, 2015, the musical, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, made its international debut. She remained a member of the production and its extended run until it was staged by the Delaware Theatre Company in December 2015.

In the revival of Les Misérables, Henningsen made her Broadway debut as Fantine on March 3, 2015. In interviews, she confessed that she was about to file for unemployment when she learned she was cast as Fantine, which also happened to be the last position she played as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan 11 months earlier. She is the youngest actress in Broadway history (to date) to play Fantine. On August 30, 2015, she and fellow Les Misérables co-star Ramin Karimloo and Samantha Hill were in the production together, but Montego Glover replaced them in Memphis.

In the production of South Pacific, Henningsen played Ensign Nellie Forbush, opposite Ben Davis, in the summer of 2016.

In February 2017, she appeared in an Off-Broadway production of Jerry Herman's musical Dear World as Nina with the York Theatre Company, starring Tyne Daly, Alison Fraser, and Ann Harada.

Henningsen appeared in the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (PCLO) in the summer of 2017, starring Sophie in the company's regional production of Mamma Mia! Cady Heron was cast in the forthcoming Washington, D.C. production of Mean Girls during her time at PCLO.

Henningsen appeared in the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical Mean Girls, a play by Tina Fey with music and lyrics by Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin, respectively, beginning in 2017. Cady Heron performed in the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., from October 31, 2017 to December 3, 2017. She was later nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for her work. The musical, which is based on the film of the same name, opened on March 12, 2018 at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City and officially opened on Broadway on April 8, 2018. Henningsen produced "Too Grool for School: Backstage at Mean Girls," offering viewers a glimpse backstage and at events like opening night, the cast album recording, and the cast's appearance on The Today Show. Henningsen left the show on February 22, 2020, and actress Sabrina Carpenter took over.

Helen selig, the theater's Mean Girls co-star, appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night at Second Stage Theater as part of the theater's "Musical Mondays" weekly concert series, as she portrayed Helen.

Henningsen was confirmed in January 2020 that he would be joining the Broadway cast of the new musical Flying Over Sunset, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2020 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater under James Lapine's direction. However, the performance's opening was postponed until the fall of 2020 after theaters were expected to shut down by Governor Andrew Cuomo on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Henningsen did not return to the stage until it resurfaced in December 2021.

In December 2022, Henningsen will appear in the world premiere of the musical Joy at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey.

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