Janet Aldrich

Janet Aldrich (born Janet Wallerich; October 16, 1956 in Hinsdale, Illinois) is an American actress and singer. Born in Hinsdale, Illinois and raised in Naples, Florida, she studied theatre at the University of Miami. She has had an active performance career since 1980. She has appeared in several Broadway musicals and plays, and has worked in American regional theatre; notably winning a Helen Hayes Award in 1986 for her performance in the Washington D.C. production of Forbidden Broadway. She has also worked in theaters in Europe, and was awarded France's Victoires de la Musique award in 1987 for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the Paris production of Cabaret. While primarily a stage actress, she has also worked in American television and film.

Early life and education The daughter of George M. Wallerich and Frances Wallerich (later Frances Aldridge), Janet Marie Wallerich was born on October 16, 1956. Originally from Hinsdale, Illinois, she moved to Naples, Florida with her parents in 1966. Her father worked in real estate development. Her mother was Canadian by birth, and was employed as a model and later secretary for the Marshall Field's department store.

Janet studied theatre at the University of Miami (UM). While there she portrayed Maria in Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story at the UM's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre in 1976 with a student cast that included Ray Liotta as Riff, Valerie Perri as Anita, and Bruce Lazarus as Doc. She played Laurey in the UM's Spring 1977 production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! with Steven Bauer (then billed as Rocky Echevarría) as Jud. She played Cunégonde with Bauer in the title role of Candide at the UM in the Fall of 1977 in a cast that also included Saundra Santiago as the Old Lady. She graduated from the UM with B.A. in Theatre. The summer prior to this she performed the role of Osgood in Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle at the Berkshire Theatre Festival with a cast that included George Hearn as J. Bowden Hapgood, Mary Louise Wilson as Cora Hoover Hooper, and Rhonda Coullet as Fay Apple. By 1981 she was using the stage name Jane Aldrich when she made her Broadway debut at the Uris Theatre in the musical Annie.

Aldrich subsequently returned to Broadway in the ensemble of the 1984 revival of The Three Musketeers, and as Ruby in the 1987 revival of George Abbott's play Broadway. On April 27, 1989 she performed the role of Maligna in the musical Starmites for the grand opening of the Broadway theatre Criterion Center Stage Right. After the close of that show she portrayed Lady Jaqueline Carstone as a replacement cast member in the Broadway production Me and My Girl in 1989.

Off-Broadway Aldrich portrayed the roles of Joan, the Nurse, and Exerciser in American Princess at the INTAR Theatre (1982), and Mistress Dainty in The Heather Brothers's musical Lust (1995) at John Houseman Theater. In 1986 she starred in Pump Boys and Dinettes at the Geva Theatre Center. That same year she won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress, Resident Musical, for her work in Forbidden Broadway at the Omni Shoreham Hotel's theater in Washington D.C. For her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the Paris, France production of Cabaret she won the Victoire de la Musique award in 1987.

In 1992 Aldrich performed the role of the Baker's Wife in Sondheim's Into the Woods at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. She was nominated for a Philadelphia Inquirer Critics Choice Award for this performance. In 1993 she starred as Rose in The Song of Singapore at the Downtown Cabaret Theater in Bridgeport, Connecticut for which she received a nomination for a Connecticut Critics Choice Award. In 1996 she portrayed Karen Richards in Charles Strouse's musical Applause at the Paper Mill Playhouse. In 2017 she portrayed Sophie Tucker in the original musical Ben, Virginia & Me (The Liberace Musical) at the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

On screen Aldrich portrayed the role of Daniel Vigne in the 1985 French film Une Femme ou Deux starring Gérard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver. She also worked as a guest actress on the soap operas As the World Turns and Guiding Light.

Personal life Aldrich married Carlos Valdes-Dapena on April 9, 1988. They moved to Montclair, New Jersey in 1994 where they raised their two children.

Performance credits Filmography

Television

Theatre