Biography
Jennifer Leigh Warren is a critically acclaimed actress/singer lauded for her show-stopping Broadway performances as the original "Alice's Daughter" in BIG RIVER (singing the song How Blest We Are written for her by composer Roger Miller), the original Crystal in the Howard Ashman/Alan Menken hit LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, the original Lincoln Center cast of MARIE CHRISTINE and "the Muse" in the original Drama Desk Award nominated LONESOME TRAVELER.
She performed in the television musical event RENT: LIVE showcasing her acting and singing versatility as Mrs. Jefferson, Mrs. Cohen, Support Sue and the Homeless "who the H lady" and as the narrator/vocalist in the "Rock My Soul" and "Power to the People" concerts with the LA Philharmonic at Disney Concert Hall.
She is featured on the Grammy award nominated cast albums of both Big River and Little Shop of Horrors and sang on the "Stephen Schwartz Album" and in the Stephen Schwartz Concert at the Ford Amphitheatre and performed her one-woman concert Diamonds Are Forever: Songs of Dame Shirley Bassey directed by Richard Jay-Alexander at the Renberg Theatre in Los Angeles.
She starred as "the Blues Singer" in all four tours of A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN (USA, Canada) with independent productions at Houston's Alley Theater, North Carolina Theatre, LaMirada, CA Theater and Ivoryton, CT Theatre. A Night with Janis Joplin was filmed and released in movie theaters across the country and streams at BroadwayHD.
Other regional credits of note include: being a member of Sir Peter Hall's Shakespeare Repertory Company at the Ahmanson Theater, Carlotta in FOLLIES at The Broad Theater (Musical Theatre Guild), NINA SIMONE:FOUR WOMEN (South Coast Rep), Lalume in KISMET, Cleo in THE MOST HAPPY FELLA and a show stopping Shelia in HAIR with a vocal arrangement made for her by the great Peter Matz (Reprise!), Miss Amponsah in THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY (American Stage), Miss Emma in PASSING THROUGH (Goodspeed Musicals), Gretchen Cryer's I'M STILL GETTING MY ACT TOGETHER (Laguna Playhouse), THE EDUCATION OF RANDY NEWMAN (South Coast Rep), The Muse in LONESOME TRAVELER(Rubicon Theatre).
International credits include a duet with Al Jarreau in Denmark in the TV special entitled, MUSICAL OF THE YEAR (televised live to thirty countries). She re-created her Broadway role of Alice's Daughter in BIG RIVER in Japan with a Japanese cast, reprising her Roger Miller gospel number in Japanese, starring Hiroyuki Sanada as Huck and Ron Richardson as Jim. She also appeared in the musical, Juni Ka Getsu No Nina, (NINA & THE 12 MONTHS), in the role of Noyabre, with a song written for her by Bolshoi Ballet composer, Rodion Schedrin, and choreographed by Maya Plisetskaya. This show represented the first American, Russian and Japanese collaboration on a new musical (with thirteen flying by Peter Foy).
On The Tonight Show, CONAN and Jimmy Kimmel, she performed with Broken Bells, The Kills, Trombone Shorty, Moon Taxi, Lisa Loeb and OK Go. At Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall she performed honoring Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Marcia Gaye Harden and opened for Steve Tyrell at the Americana at Brand.
Feature films include: Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day, The Other Sister, and Dear God, Allison Anders & Martin Scorsese's Grace of my Heart, Sean Penn's The Crossing Guard, Larry David's Sour Grapes. Television includes: Pretty Little Liars, Lipstick jungle, Dirt, ER, Scrubs, The Game, Touched by an Angel, All my Children.
Awards: LA Ovation Award winner with multiple nominations, two NAACP Theatre Award nominations, Backstage Award, Dartmouth College Creative Arts Award, two BroadwayWorld Awards and seven nominations for her Shirley Bassey concert and for the Lythgoe Family Cinderella Christmas Panto in the same year. She is a proud AEA, SAG-AFTRA member.
