Idina Menzel

Idina Menzel made her professional theater debut in 1996 as Maureen Johnson in Rent, which opened Off-Broadway before transferring to Broadway. She remained with the production through 1997 and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She released her debut solo album Still I Can’t Be Still in 1998 and performed at the Lilith Fair the same year. Her early stage work included Summer of ’42 (Goodspeed Opera House), Hair (New York City Center Encores!), Aida on Broadway, and The Wild Party (2000), which earned her a Drama Desk nomination.

In 2003, Menzel originated the role of Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway, winning the 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. She continued in the role through 2005 and later reprised it in London’s West End production in 2006. Additional stage projects included See What I Wanna See (2005), the Chess concert at Royal Albert Hall (2008), readings of Nero (2008), and starring as Elizabeth in If/Then, which premiered in Washington, D.C., in 2013 and opened on Broadway in 2014; she received another Tony nomination. She reprised the role on the national tour (2015–2016). She starred in Skintight Off-Broadway in 2018 and in Los Angeles in 2019, and later appeared in Wild: A Musical Becoming at American Repertory Theater in 2021. She leads the musical Redwood, which premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2024 and opened on Broadway in 2025.

Her recording career includes the albums Here (2004), I Stand (2008), Holiday Wishes (2014), idina. (2016), Christmas: A Season of Love (2019), and Drama Queen (2023). She has headlined multiple concert tours, including the I Stand Tour (2008–2009), Barefoot at the Symphony Tour (2010–2012), a global tour in 2015, a world tour in 2017, and the Take Me or Leave Me Tour in 2024. She also released live recordings including Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony (2012) and idina Live (2018), and appeared in a Disney+ concert special, Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage? (2022).

Menzel’s film debut was Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), followed by Just a Kiss (2002) and The Tollbooth (2004). She reprised Maureen Johnson in the film adaptation of Rent (2005), appeared in Ask the Dust (2006), and played Nancy Tremaine in Disney’s Enchanted (2007). On television, she had a recurring role as Shelby Corcoran on Glee (2010–2013). In 2013, she voiced Elsa in Disney’s Frozen, performing the song “Let It Go,” and reprised the role in Frozen Fever (2015), Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (2017), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and Frozen 2 (2019).

Later screen work includes starring in the Lifetime film Beaches (2017), Uncut Gems (2019), Cinderella (2021), Disenchanted (2022), and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023), as well as the web series Idina’s Treehouse during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is also set to appear in the Netflix film Just Picture It.