Jenn Colella

At 49 years old, Jenn Colella physical status not available right now. We will update Jenn Colella's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

As a UCI graduate, Colella participated in a showcase in New York, along with NYU and Yale, and auditioned for a part. After going back to California for a few months, she got a call to come back to New York to audition for Sissy in the original production of Urban Cowboy, and was cast in her Broadway debut role. She had not yet gotten her Equity card. The world premiere was at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, Florida. Then it moved to the Broadhurst Theatre for its seven and one half weeks New York run. When the show closed, she returned to California and co-hosted a game show.

Among other original Broadway productions, her longest run, starting in March 2017, was two and one half years in Come from Away. In the summer of 2015 Colella originated the role of Annette/Beverley Bass in the La Jolla Playhouse's world premiere production, which transferred later in the year to the Seattle Repertory Theatre. It then played Washington D.C. at Ford's Theatre, a concert presentation in Gander, Newfoundland, and at the Royal Alex in Toronto in 2016 before transferring to Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The show received positive reviews and she was nominated for a Tony Award, along with winning both a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance. After three years of performing the role over a 4+1⁄2 year span, she left the production on November 10, 2019. During the summer of 2022, she returned as a replacement for seven weeks and played her final performance in the Broadway production on August 7, 2022.

After the December 2013 world premiere run at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., in March 2014, she started a year-long appearance in If/Then at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Colella played Anne, a woman in a same-sex relationship with Kate. She had worked with the Kate role through development, but it was decided to cast LaChanze for the part. The role of Anne was then written in for her.

In Fall 2010, she also originated the role of Hedda Hopper in the world premiere of Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin at the La Jolla Playhouse. It was renamed Chaplin: The Musical and she performed the role on Broadway from September 2012 to January 2013. An additional role was as Laura in High Fidelity. Colella played the world premiere in Boston in October 2006, and the original Broadway production in December of that year.

Her Off-Broadway original cast credits were a six-week run as Delia in Slut in 2005, two weeks in 2011 as Chicky Lay in Lucky Guy at the Little Shubert Theater, and a seven week long engagement in the 2022 world premiere of Suffs at the Public Theater. Colella's Off-Broadway work also included the butch title character in the Beebo Brinker Chronicles for seven weeks in early 2008, a four-week review, Closer Than Ever, during the summer of 2012, and a single performance, all-female cast staged reading of Twelve Angry Men in September 2018.

After being in the original staged reading in Connecticut in 2006, she appeared in Kiki Baby, as an "utterly believable" four year old singer "you will fall in love with," who becomes a celebrity—and a spoiled brat. This titular characterization won Colella a 2011 NYMF Award for Outstanding Individual Performance. Other New York Musical Theatre Festival appearances include The Great American Trailer Park Musical in 2004 and 2009's All Fall Down. In 2006 she starred in the world premiere of Twyla Tharp's The Times They Are A-Changin' at the Old Globe Theatre.

Colella has had multiple regional theater appearances. In addition to those listed above that moved on to New York, they have included her favorite role, Peter Pan, which she has done four times. Along with the 2001 California summer stock appearance, she has been cast in 2008 at the Sondheim Center in Fairfield, IA, the Music Circus in Sacramento, CA in 2015, and a 2019 Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in Pennsylvania.

Also in Pittsburgh, she played Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun in 2008. In 2009 she appeared, along with Elaine Stritch, in Paper Mill Playhouse's The Full Monty in Millburn, NJ. 2010 found her in Princeton, NJ at the McCarter Theatre in the American premiere of Take Flight as aviator Amelia Earhart. Another world premiere occurred in December 2003 for Madison Repertory in Wisconsin as Jenny in Heartland: The Musical, followed by a January 2004 appearance in the show for the Broadway Contemporary Series in Dallas, TX.

In the hopes of breaking into television, Colella began her career as a comedian as a way to get noticed. That, as well as the rock band, helped build her on stage confidence. She started doing observational humor stand-up in Southern California while pursuing her MFA. During that time, she performed in places such as the Laugh Factory and The Comedy Store in Hollywood. She has said that success and failure are equally valuable instructors.

She had her television debut in 2003 co-hosting the game show Can You Tell? with Tony Rock on Oxygen. Her next appearance was on the ABC series Cashmere Mafia, where she was in a same-sex relationship and discussed their starting a family. That show aired January 2008, six weeks before she opened in Beebo Brinker. Since then she has guest starred in several other television shows. In 2019, the year she left Come From Away, there were three for CBS, The Code, Madam Secretary, and Evil. Colella was also part of the PBS Tribute to Stephen Sondheim with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in 2010, and the initial Broadway in Concert: An Evening with Lerner and Loewe, again for PBS, in March 2022.

Her film credits are found in Uncertainty, Lay It Down for Good, the live filmed version of Come From Away, and Chocolate Milk.

Colella has performed for online web shows. These include 2012's Pzazz 101 in the "Jenn Colella" episode and Hedda's Headlines: Backstage at 'Chaplin' with Jenn Colella where she reported from backstage over eight episodes of the Broadway.com Series. In 2014 she played Sarah Jeffreys in Submissions Only for two episodes titled "Chapter 2" and "Reason to Stay." 2017 saw her in another Broadway.com series over the eight episodes of Welcome to the Rock: Backstage at COME FROM AWAY with Jenn Colella. In 2021 she played Jo in all eight episodes of The Flame: A Podcast Musical.

In between other appearances, she teaches master classes, has a cabaret act, and does benefit performances. She sang the National Anthem at a New York Yankees game in October 2021. Colella has also co-written a song with Tom Kitt that was included in his album Reflect: Tom Kitt & The Collective.

When Colella works on a project, she treats it as a hit and believes in it completely. But whether it is a hit is not the point, for her as an actor, it is to do her best work for as long as the show runs. She believes actors get hired not only because of talent, but because of their energy. She feels the energy that an actor brings into the room must be practiced throughout the day, working toward the foundation of present moment awaremess. To her, acting is the easy part, staying in the present moment in her work is harder and requires focus. She recognizes that acting is the same whether on Broadway or in a local theater.

She says there are only two things over which an actor has control—preparation and attitude. Her work ethic is to arrive at rehearsal with lines memorized and music learned. She works to understand what is going on and to develop ideas about her character. She thinks a production staff wants to trust that the actor will do the work and not appear for rehearsal unprepared. They also want to know the actor will be a team player, someone they will want to work with during a development cycle that may take several years.

Colella says she enjoys rehearsing more than performing. It is for the safety afforded by the rehearsal room wherein the actors can play and flirt, try and fail, succeed and learn, and all without the judgement of an audience. She has indicated she feels sad after opening night, when the creative team is not there anymore, as it is like mom and dad are gone. They are no longer there to guide and approve the work being done. She loves the energy and approval received from an audience, but the safety, community, and feeling of family within rehearsal is not the same.

She treats signing-in at the theater as a contract between herself and the others in the company to be her best self while there, and knows practicing kindness requires attention. She does not mark in rehearsal, and has spent her career singing like it's the last time she'll sing. A reviewer has commented, "Colella is always singing at 100."

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