Spencer Kayden
Spencer Kayden | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, comedian, writer |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Spencer Kayden is an American actress, comedian and writer. Kayden played Little Sally in the Broadway musical Urinetown and was a cast member on sketch comedy series MADtv. She also voiced Mrs. Pepper on Blue's Clues,[1] taking over the role from Penelope Jewkes after the first season.
Biography
[edit]Spencer Kayden was born the only girl out of four siblings to a father who worked as a pop-up book publisher and a mother who worked as a psychotherapist. Kayden grew up in Orange County, California, and went on to study drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.[2] She joined the Chicago cast of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind [3][4] and moved to New York in 1993 to start the New York run of the show.
Kayden received critical acclaim and notice for her performance in the musical Urinetown, where she played Little Sally, the pig-tailed girl who helps explain the plot. She played in the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival production, and then was in the original Off-Broadway and Broadway casts in 2001 and returned in 2003.[5] The CurtainUp reviewer noted in reviewing the Off-Broadway production: "But while Spencer Kayden does everything right in her portrayal of the droll little girl who alternates begging for 'penny for a pee' with Shirley Temple/Charlie McCarthy exchanges with the deceptively kindly neighborhood cop, her Sally is wrong. This 'bad' idea is outrageously good for lots of laughs. The central joke works."[6]
It is from her theater performances that she was discovered by Fox executives and cast as a featured performer on MADtv.[citation needed]
Kayden also played the role of Mrs. Pepper in the popular Nickelodeon kids series Blue's Clues since 1996.
Kayden starred in the farce Don't Dress for Dinner at the Royal George Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, from November 2008 to January 2009.[7] She reprised her role as the cook in the Broadway production, which opened in March 2012 at the American Airlines Theatre.[8]
Personal life
[edit]Kayden is the sister of film director Michael Almereyda.[2] She has been married to actor Mark Harelik since 2004, and they have one child together. She has listed Irene Dunne, Peter Sellers and Frances McDormand as some of her acting idols.[9]
Awards and nominations
[edit] |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Drama Desk Award | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Urinetown | Nominated |
| Clarence Derwent Awards | Most Promising Female Performer | Won | ||
| 2002 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | Nominated | |
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Won | ||
| Theatre World Award | Won | |||
| 2012 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actress in a Play | Don't Dress for Dinner | Nominated |
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Won | ||
MADtv
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Spencer Kayden (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 7 February 2022. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ a b McKinley, Jesse. "Theater; 'Urinetown' Uptown? Her Moment Has Come" The New York Times, September 2, 2001
- ^ "Ensemble and Alumni" neofuturists.org, accessed April 1, 2012
- ^ Bommer, Lawrence. Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" chicagoreader.com, August 16, 1990
- ^ Simonson, Robert and Jones, Kenneth. "Little Sally Comes Home: Spencer Kayden Returns to Urinetown, March 25" playbill.com, March 25, 2003
- ^ Sommer, Elyse. "A CurtainUp Review; 'Urinetown The Musical' " CurtainUp.com, May 4, 2001
- ^ Jones, Kenneth (September 18, 2008). "Don't Dress Gets Chicago Premiere With Harelik, Kayden and "Burn Notice" Star Donovan". Playbill. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ Jones, Kenneth (March 30, 2012). "Don't Dress for Dinner, With Ben Daniels, Jennifer Tilly, Spencer Kayden, Makes Broadway Premiere". Playbill. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ Blank, Matthew (2012-05-22). "PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: Don't Dress for Dinner Tony Nominee Spencer Kayden". playbill.com. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
External links
[edit]- Living people
- American television actresses
- American voice actresses
- American stage actresses
- American musical theatre actresses
- Clarence Derwent Award winners
- Northwestern University School of Communication alumni
- American sketch comedians
- 21st-century American comedians
- Theatre World Award winners
- 21st-century American actresses
- Comedians from California
- American women comedians