Background and career
Kristin Dawn Chenoweth ( ; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968) is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film, and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway. In 2003, Chenoweth was nominated for a second Tony Award for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked. Her television roles include Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing and Olive Snook on the comedy drama Pushing Daisies, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009. Chenoweth sang gospel music as a child in Oklahoma and studied opera before deciding to pursue a career in musical theatre. In 1997, she made her Broadway debut in Steel Pier, winning a Theatre World Award. Her other Broadway credits include Eve in The Apple Tree (2006); Fran in Promises, Promises (2010); Lily in On the Twentieth Century (2015), for which she received a third Tony Award nomination; and the title role in The Queen of Versailles (2025). She has also appeared in five City Center Encores! productions, Off-Broadway, and in regional theatre. Chenoweth had her own sitcom, Kristin, in 2001, and has guest-starred on many shows, including Sesame Street and Glee, for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards in 2010 and 2011. She also starred in the ABC TV series GCB in 2012, played Lavinia in Trial & Error in 2018, and played the characters Mildred Layton and Miss Codwell in the musical comedy series Schmigadoon! in 2021 and 2023, respectively. In films, she has played mostly character roles, such as in Bewitched (2005), The Pink Panther (2006) and RV (2006). She has played roles in made-for-TV movies, such as Descendants (2015) and several Christmas-themed ones; done voice work in animated films such as Rio 2 (2014) and The Peanuts Movie (2015) along with the animated TV series Sit Down, Shut Up and BoJack Horseman; hosted several award shows; and released several albums of songs, including A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas (2008), Some Lessons Learned (2011), Coming Home (2014), The Art of Elegance (2016) and For the Girls (2019). Chenoweth also wrote a 2009 memoir, A Little Bit Wicked.
Chenoweth was adopted when she was five days old by Junie Smith Chenoweth and Jerry Morris Chenoweth, both chemical engineers from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, and named Kristi Dawn Chenoweth. She revealed in her 2023 book I'm No Philosopher, but I Got Thoughts that her biological parents were bassist Billy Ethridge (briefly a member of ZZ Top) and Wanda Lynn Cooper, to whom Chenoweth referred as "Mama Lynn". Ethridge (some sources spell it Etheridge) was also a member of The Chessmen. Chenoweth eventually met her biological mother. She believed that she was of one-quarter Cherokee descent, but genetic testing showed that she is 4% Native American. At an early age, she performed gospel songs for local churches. A performing highlight of her childhood was a solo appearance at the Southern Baptist Convention national conference at the age of 12, where she performed the Evie song "Four Feet Eleven". The chorus begins, "I'm only 4 feet 11, but I'm going to Heaven" (Chenoweth is 4 ft 11 in (150 cm) in height). After graduating from Broken Arrow Senior High School, where she participated in school plays, Chenoweth attended Oklahoma City University, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta (Beta Omicron) sorority. She earned a bachelor's degree in musical theatre in 1990 and a master's degree in opera performance in 1992, studying under voice instructor and mentor, Florence Birdwell. While at OCU, Chenoweth competed in beauty pageants, winning the title of Miss OCU and was the second runner-up in the Miss Oklahoma pageant in 1991. In 1992, Chenoweth participated in a studio recording of The Most Happy Fella. While she was in college and working towards her master's degree, Chenoweth performed at the Lyric Theatre in Oklahoma City, among other regional theatres, in roles like June in Gypsy, Liesl in The Sound of Music, Fran in Promises, Promises, and Tuptim in The King and I. At age 19, she spent a summer as a cast member of the "Way Out West" stage show at Opryland USA in Nashville, Tennessee. As she completed her master's degree, Chenoweth participated in several vocal competitions and was named "most promising up-and-coming singer" in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, which came with a full scholarship to Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts. Two weeks before school started, however, she went to New York City to help a friend move. While there, she auditioned for the 1993 Paper Mill Playhouse production of the musical Animal Crackers and was cast in the role of Arabella Rittenhouse. She turned down the scholarship and moved to New York to play the role and pursue a career in musical theatre.
After Animal Crackers, Chenoweth continued to appear in regional theatre productions, such as Babes in Arms at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and Phantom (as Christine; she also toured in Germany in this role), playing roles in Off-Broadway productions like Luisa in The Fantasticks and Kristy in Box Office of the Damned (both in 1994). In 1997, she appeared as Hyacinth in the Roundabout Theater Company production of Moliere's farcical Scapin, earning her first New York Times review, with Ben Brantley writing "Kristin Chenoweth's sob-prone ingenue is delightful". She made her Broadway debut in the spring of 1997 as Precious McGuire in the musical Steel Pier by Kander and Ebb, for which she won a Theatre World Award. In 1998 she reprised one of her regional theatre roles, Anne Draper, in the City Center Encores! staged concert of the George and Ira Gershwin musical Strike Up the Band and created roles in the original Lincoln Center Theater production of William Finn's A New Brain. Ben Rimalower, in Playbill, wrote: "It's unlikely anyone will equal Kristin Chenoweth in the role of 'Nancy D., the waitress.'" Chenoweth played Sally Brown, the title character's little sister, in the 1999 Broadway revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Sally was not present in the original production. Chenoweth won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance. Later that year, she starred on Broadway in the short-lived comic play Epic Proportions, followed by starring as Daisy Gamble in the Encores! production of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in February 2000. After this, Chenoweth split her time between stage and TV or film roles and released her first solo album, Let Yourself Go (2001). In 2002, she performed in the City Center Encores! 10th Anniversary Bash. In October 2003, she returned to Broadway (after the San Francisco tryout) in the musical Wicked, as Glinda the Good Witch. She was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award as Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance; her co-star Idina Menzel (who played Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West) won the award. Chenoweth was also nominated for the Drama Desk Award and the Drama League Award for this role. Ben Rimalower, in Playbill, wrote that, for Glinda, "the gold standard was unquestionably and indelibly set" by Chenoweth's performances. After playing Glinda for nine months, Chenoweth left Wicked, on July 18, 2004, soon joining the cast of The West Wing in Los Angeles. The Wicked cast album earned a 2005 Grammy Award. Chenoweth played Cunegonde in the New York Philharmonic revival of Candide, directed by Lonny Price, in May 2004. The production was also broadcast on PBS's Great Performances. A performance of the rarely sung duet "We Are Women", between Cunegonde and the Old Lady (played by Patti Lupone), was included in the production.
From December 2006 to March 2007, following a 2005 Encores! presentation of the piece, Chenoweth starred on Broadway as Eve in a revival of The Apple Tree with co-stars Brian d'Arcy James and former fiancé Marc Kudisch. She received nominations for the Drama Desk Award and the Drama League Award. She hosted the 2007 Drama Desk Awards ceremony. The same year, she played Female Star in the 2007 Encores! presentation of Stairway to Paradise and returned for her fifth Encores! production in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Music in the Air in 2009. Chenoweth was scheduled to return to The Metropolitan Opera in 2010 to play Samira in John Corigliano's opera The Ghosts of Versailles. The Met canceled the expensive production in 2008 as the U.S. economy weakened. In 2009, Chenoweth was part of the rotating ensemble cast of Nora and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore off-Broadway at the Westside Theater. She next starred as Fran Kubelik in the 2010 Broadway revival of the musical Promises, Promises, opposite Sean Hayes, which opened on April 25, 2010. The songs "I Say a Little Prayer" and "A House Is Not a Home" were added for her to sing. Chenoweth and Hayes remained in the cast until the show closed on January 2, 2011, although she missed performances from December 29, 2010, to January 1, 2011, to perform a New Year's Eve concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall on December 31, 2010. She played televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in a reading of the musical Rise in 2011. Chenoweth played Lily Garland in a Broadway revival of On the Twentieth Century, opposite Peter Gallagher, which began previews on February 12 and opened on March 12, 2015, for a 22-week limited engagement through July 19, 2015, at the Roundabout Theatre Company. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote that Chenoweth "uses [her character's] histrionics to create one of the most virtuosic portraits in song ever on Broadway. The vocal vocabulary she deploys here ranges from jazz-baby brass to operatic silver, often in a single number, and she switches among them with jaw-dropping ease. And every perfectly weighted note is set off by an impeccably exaggerated gesture." She was nominated for a Tony Award and won another Drama Desk Award for her performance. In November 2023, Chenoweth made a cameo appearance in Gutenberg! The Musical! as The Producer She co-produced and stars as the title character, Jackie Siegel, in the musical The Queen of Versailles, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, which premiered at Colonial Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2024, and began performances at Broadway's St. James Theatre in October 2025.
After a guest appearance on LateLine, a role in the short-lived television series Paramour (1999), and several roles in television films such as Annie (as Lily St. Regis), Chenoweth starred in her own NBC sitcom, the semi-autobiographical Kristin in 2001. Thirteen episodes were filmed, but only six aired before it was canceled. Chenoweth appeared in the lead role of Marian in the 2003 television film, The Music Man, opposite Matthew Broderick. She also guest-starred on such shows as Frasier (2001), Baby Bob (2002), Fillmore! (2003), Elmo's World and Sesame Street (several times as Mrs. Noodle) and Ugly Betty (2007). In 2004, Chenoweth began playing the recurring role of media consultant Annabeth Schott in The West Wing. For her performance, she was nominated twice, along with the cast, for Screen Actors Guild Awards. She appeared in the final two seasons of the program through 2006. Chenoweth had been considered originally for the role of Ainsley Hayes, but she had already accepted her role in Wicked. Another of Chenoweth's Christmas-themed TV films was 12 Men of Christmas (2009); though it received lukewarm reviews, a Variety review praised Chenoweth, saying "with the right talent, it's possible to make even the moldiest of material sing just a little".
From 2007 to 2009, Chenoweth played Olive Snook in the television series, Pushing Daisies. For her performance, she "became a favorite for her musical numbers and bright personality" and was nominated two years in a row for an Emmy Award, winning in 2009 as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The series was canceled after two seasons. In 2009, Chenoweth lent her voice to the animated comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up, as Miracle Grohe, a science teacher who does not believe in science. The series lasted just thirteen episodes. Later that year, Chenoweth began a recurring role as April Rhodes in Glee, singing several songs, earning enthusiastic notices. The character is a former member of the glee club who never finished high school and ended up hitting rock bottom. A review in USA Today observed, "Her presence may not make much sense, but if it means hearing Chenoweth sing, we can put up with any explanation the show cares to offer." She received a Satellite Award for Outstanding Guest Star. In 2010, Chenoweth returned to Glee as April Rhodes, singing more songs. The Los Angeles Times review commented, "the best part about 'Home' was undoubtedly the return of Kristin Chenoweth as April. From her spunky duet of Fire with Schue, to the heart-achingly lonely coo of 'One Less Bell to Answer' which segued into a fantastic reprise of 'A House Is Not a Home' and of course her bone-chilling take on Home I fell in love with her again." She was nominated for both 2010 and 2011 Emmy Awards for her performances on Glee. Chenoweth returned again to Glee in "Rumours" in 2011, and for its 100th episode in 2014. In 2011, Chenoweth starred in a pilot for ABC called Good Christian Bitches as Carlene Cockburn. ABC picked up the show and changed the title to GCB. The series debuted in 2012 but lasted only one season, despite "the cast's comedic wit and strong performances"; Chenoweth generally sang a song in each episode. In 2012, she guest-starred in an episode of the sitcom Hot in Cleveland, titled "The Gateway Friend". Chenoweth played a recurring role as Peggy Byrne, a political reporter, in the fourth season of The Good Wife (2012). However, she soon left the show after sustaining a skull fracture, broken nose, spinal and rib injuries and cracked teeth when she was struck by equipment on the set. She appeared in the 2012 season opener and returned in a short scene for another episode. She later expressed regret at not pursuing legal action for her injuries, which she said caused her to endure "hundreds of doctor appointments", "head-to-toe pain on a daily basis", anxiety and depression. In 2013 and 2014, she made two appearances as Brittany Gold on the TV series, Kirstie. From 2014 to 2019 she appeared in five episodes of the animated series BoJack Horseman. Chenoweth played Maleficent in the live-action Disney Channel original movie, Descendants (2015). The Entertainment Weekly reviewer said that "Chenoweth stole much of the show". It drew the largest cable TV movie audience of 2015 to that date. later that year, Chenoweth appeared in an episode of I Get That a Lot, posing as a waitress, and co-hosted the 69th Tony Awards, for which she was nominated for another Emmy Award. Chenoweth played Velma Von Tussle in NBC's Hairspray Live! in 2016. In 2017, Chenoweth played the role of Easter in the Starz TV series American Gods and guested on Younger In 2018, a guest spot on Mom was followed by the main cast role, on Trial & Error, of Lavinia Peck-Foster, an eccentric heiress accused of her husband's murder, who hires Josh Segal and Associates to defend her. She participated in a 2018 NBC broadcast, A Very Wicked Halloween, hosting and singing Popular and other numbers to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Wicked on Broadway. The same year, she appeared as a guest on another NBC special, Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas. The next year, Chenoweth made another Christmas TV movie, A Christmas Love Story. The same year, she appeared on British TV as a judge on an ITV special "All Star Musicals", where she and Elaine Paige performed the song "I Know Him So Well" together. Chenoweth hosted a six-episode Food Network television competition show, derived from the game Candy Land, in 2020–2021. In 2021, PBS aired a Wicked concert special, hosted by Chenoweth and Menzel, with "a starry line-up" of singers and actors performing the musical numbers. She also appeared as the villainous Mildred Layton in the Apple TV+ parody musical comedy television series Schmigadoon! for which she was nominated for the 2022 Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. and a Hollywood Critics Association TV Award. Later that year, she joined The Voice, season 21 as advisor to Ariana Grande's team. She returned in 2023 for season 2 of Schmigadoon!, this time as Miss Codwell, owner of an orphanage, receiving another Hollywood Critics Association TV Award nomination. In 2025, Chenoweth played cheerleading coach Tammy Istiny in the NBC comedy series Stumble. Chenoweth is set to be a contestant on the fifth season of The Traitors on Peacock in 2027.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
