PROFILE
Tony Award-winning actress and singer Patti LuPone is a musical theater icon best-known for her roles in Evita, Les Misérables, and Gypsy. As The New York Times put it, she "earned her reputation…through her big talent, willingness to take risks and sheer persistence."
She won her first Tony Award for her performance as Eva Perón in the original 1979 Broadway production of Evita, the role that launched her into stardom. LuPone swept the theatre awards, winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy. She recently made her New York City Ballet debut in a production of The Seven Deadly Sins and was nominated for a Tony, Drama Desk Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
For over three decades, LuPone has graced the stage with memorable performances including starring roles in Sweeney Todd, Anything Goes, The Robber Bridegroom, and The Cradle Will Rock. She created the roles of Fantine in Les Misérables and Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard for the original London productions.
LuPone shares her deep passion for music and the theatre in her New York Times bestseller, Patti LuPone: A Memoir, a frank and funny look at her life on and off the stage. Publishers Weekly called it an "engaging memoir" filled "with razor-sharp memories and hundreds of colorful anecdotes."
An alumna of the inaugural graduating class of Juilliard's Drama Division, LuPone was the first American actor to win Britain's Olivier Award. From 1989 to 1993 she was on ABC's Emmy Award-winning series Life Goes On. Her film and TV appearances also include Driving Miss Daisy, Oz, 30 Rock, Will and Grace, Glee, and an Emmy-nominated appearance on Frasier.
The winner of two Grammy awards, LuPone has released five solo albums. Her most recent, Patti LuPone at Les Mouches, is a digitally re-mastered recording of her legendary 1980 nightclub act. She continues to tour in concert with her Evita co-star Mandy Patinkin. In 2012 she stars in the smash independent film, Union Square, and returns to the stage in the David Mamet play, The Anarchist.
For a biography of Patti LuPone, click here
“LuPone generates more raw excitement than any other performer.”
-The New York Times