Marin Mazzie

Broadway star Marin Mazzie enjoyed a glittering musical theater career which included Tony-nominated performances in "Passion" (1994), "Ragtime" (1998) and "Kiss Me, Kate" (2000). Born in Rockford, IL in 1960, Mazzie began performing aged eight in her church choir and four years later took up singing lessons. While studying Music and Theater at Western Michigan University, she honed her craft at Kalamazoo's famous Barn Theatre, and on her graduation she relocated to New York where she made her stage debut playing Kitty Verdun in "Where's Charley?" She subsequently took roles in a dinner theater production of "Barnum," a touring version of failed Broadway musical "Doonesbury" and Stephen Sondheim's reworking of "Merrily We Roll Along" (1985). Mazzie then took to the Broadway stage for the first time in "Big River" (1985), made her small screen debut playing a Visitor Comm Officer in sci-fi series "V" (NBC, 1984-85) and landed the role of Rapunzel in "Into the Woods" (1987). Her true big break came when she was cast as the original Clara in another Sondheim production, "Passion" (1994). Mazzie picked up the first of three Tony Award nominations for her performance, which famously saw her go nude with co-star Jere Shea in its opening scene. Two years later she met her future husband Jason Danieley when they both appeared in "Trojan Women: A Love Story" (1996), with the pair going on to marry a year later. Mazzie received Tony Awards nominations for her leading performances as Mother in early 20th Century immigrant tale "Ragtime" (1998) and Lilli Vanessi/Katharine in a staging of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate" (2000) before going on to star in revivals of "Man of La Mancha" (2002), "110 in the Shade" (2004) and "Brigadoon" (2004). She also landed her first and only recurring TV role when she was cast as Kevin Nealon's religious wife Kathy Halverson in family sitcom "Still Standing" (CBS, 2002-06). Mazzie then starred opposite Gabriel Byrne in a New York Philharmonic production of "Camelot" (2008) screened on PBS, appeared alongside her husband as a couple battling manic depression in "Next to Normal" (2010) and originated the role of Claudia Roe in "ENRON" (2010). After playing Margaret in the off-Broadway revival of "Carrie" (2012) and Helen in Woody Allen musical "Bullets Over Broadway" (2014), Mazzie replaced Kelli O'Hara as Anna in "The King and I" (2016), showed up in TV movie "Tenure" (2017) and took the role of Misia Sert in "Fire and Air" (2018). Sadly, following a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer, Mazzie passed away from the disease in 2018 aged 57.