Kelli O'Hara

Kelli Christine O'Hara (born April 16, 1976) is an American actress and singer, most known for her work on the Broadway and opera stages. She has received a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for three Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. She was honored with the Drama League Award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre in 2019.

O'Hara portrayed Anna Leonowens in the revival of The King and I for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2015. She reprised her role in the West End for which she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2019. She was Tony-nominated for her performances in The Light in the Piazza (2005), The Pajama Game (2006), South Pacific (2008), Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012), The Bridges of Madison County (2014), Kiss Me, Kate (2019), Days of Wine and Roses (2024), and Fallen Angels (2026).

O'Hara made her debut at The Metropolitan Opera in a 2014 production of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow. In 2018, she played the role of Despina in the Met Opera's production of Mozart's Così fan tutte. In 2022, she returned to the Met, starring as Laura Brown in Kevin Puts' The Hours, a role she and co-stars Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato reprised for eight performances in May 2024.

She has also played roles in television series, such as Masters of Sex, 13 Reasons Why, and The Gilded Age, receiving a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for her starring role in the 2017 web drama series The Accidental Wolf at the 70th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2018.

Early life and education Kelli O'Hara was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and grew up in Elk City, Oklahoma in an Irish American family. She graduated from Deer Creek High School and also attended Oklahoma City University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in music in vocal performance/opera. O'Hara studied voice with Florence Birdwell, who also taught Kristin Chenoweth four years earlier. O'Hara and Chenoweth are both alumnae of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority.

Career Early career One of O'Hara's earliest professional roles was in a U.S. national tour of the musical Jekyll & Hyde. She next appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of Sweet Smell of Success as Susan Hunsecker. In 2003 she played Albertine in the Off-Broadway Playwrights Horizons production of the musical My Life with Albertine, and, in 2004, Lucy Westenra in the Broadway production of Dracula, the Musical.

She starred as Clara Johnson in the 2005 Broadway production of The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre. She had appeared in a workshop of the musical at the Theatre Lab at Sundance, and in tryouts in Seattle and Chicago, as the character of Franca Naccarelli. She received a 2005 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 59th Tony Awards. O'Hara has been nominated for, or won, a Tony Award for every subsequent role she has played on Broadway. In her next Broadway musical, she played Babe Williams in the 2006 revival of The Pajama Game, for which she was nominated for Best Leading Actress in a Musical at the 60th Tony Awards. For this performance, New York Times reviewer Ben Brantley wrote that O'Hara "rockets past the promising ingénue status she attained with Light in the Piazza".

In 2007, O'Hara played the role of Dot/Marie in the Los Angeles Reprise! concert staging of Sunday in the Park with George and Eliza Doolittle in the New York Philharmonic's semi-staged production of My Fair Lady at Avery Fisher Hall. She was the voice of producer Beth Totenbag on PBS' 2008 animated series Click and Clack's As the Wrench Turns. From 2008 to 2010, O'Hara starred as Nellie Forbush in the Broadway revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater, for which she was nominated for her third Tony Award at the 62nd Tony Awards. She took maternity leave in March 2009 and returned to the musical in October 2009.

O'Hara played the role of Ella Peterson in the 2010 New York City Center Encores! concert presentation of Bells Are Ringing. She played the role of Ellen in the film Sex and the City 2 (2010), and in 2011 she appeared in "Mercy", the first episode of the second season of the CBS show Blue Bloods. Also in 2011, she played the role of Amalia Balash in a benefit concert of She Loves Me, presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, in honor of the company's 20th anniversary. Scott Ellis directed, and the musical director was Paul Gemignani. She had performed one of the best known songs from the show, "Will He Like Me?", the previous evening at Kennedy Center in honor of Barbara Cook.

She starred on Broadway as Billie Bendix in Nice Work If You Can Get It from April 2012 to March 2013 and received her fourth Tony Award nomination at the 66th Tony Awards. In 2012, at the New Year's Eve concert, "Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch", at Lincoln Center, she sang "At the Ballet", from A Chorus Line, along with Audra McDonald and Megan Hilty. In 2013, she played the lead character of Julie Jordan in the staged concert of Carousel presented by the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. From January to May 2014, she starred as Francesca Johnson in the Broadway musical The Bridges of Madison County, for which she received her fifth Tony Award nomination at the 68th Tony Awards. Elyse Sommer, a CurtainUp.com reviewer, noted O'Hara's "superb vocal chops" and her "exquisite" duets with co-star Steven Pasquale. She played Mrs. Darling in the 2014 NBC telecast Peter Pan Live!. She sang two concerts, titled "Kelli and Matthew: Home for the Holidays", in December 2014 at Carnegie Hall with Matthew Morrison and the New York Pops. On December 31, 2014, O'Hara made her operatic debut at The Metropolitan Opera as Valencienne Zeta in Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, alongside Renee Fleming in the title role of Hanna Glawari.

2015–present O'Hara returned to Lincoln Center Theatre to star as Anna Leonowens in the Broadway revival of The King and I opposite Ken Watanabe as King Mongkut. The production began previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in March 2015 and opened in April 2015. This role won O'Hara her first Tony Award at the 69th Tony Awards. O'Hara's final performance as Anna was in April 2016. She gave her debut solo concert at Carnegie Hall in October 2016 and guest-starred as the recurring character Dody Oliver on the fourth season of Masters of Sex. She played Fiona MacLaren in the Encores! production of Brigadoon at New York City Center in November 2017. Jeremy Gerard of Deadline Hollywood called O'Hara's performance "luminous", writing: "O’Hara is impossibly beautiful, vocally and in conveying Fiona’s romantic determination and heartbreak." In 2017, she starred as Kate Bonner in the first season of the web drama series The Accidental Wolf, earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series at the 70th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. O'Hara appeared in the second season of 13 Reasons Why as Jackie, an anti-bullying advocate. The same year at the Metropolitan Opera, she sang the role of Despina in Così fan tutte. She reprised her role in The King and I at the West End's London Palladium for a limited run from June to September 2018.

She returned to Broadway in February 2019 in a revival of Kiss Me, Kate at Studio 54, as Lilli Vanessi/Katharine Minola. The production was directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. The revival was produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company, which had produced a benefit concert of the show with O'Hara, Ellis, and Carlyle in 2016. O'Hara received her seventh Tony Award nomination for the revival at the 73rd Tony Awards.

In December 2019, she and Richard Thomas joined the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for their annual Christmas concert, the 20th annual Christmas concert performed in the 21,000-seat Conference Center. In that concert, she performed “Mary’s Little Boy Child,” the lesser-known “The Birthday of a King,” by W. H. Neidlinger, and the lullaby “A Cradle in Bethlehem” — one of her father’s favorite Christmas songs.

In a 2022 interview with Theatermania, she discussed working on three projects at once: HBO's costume drama The Gilded Age, from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes; a new season of The Accidental Wolf, in a role that earned her a 2018 Emmy nomination, as a woman who becomes embroiled in a scandal after receiving a phone call from a stranger being murdered; and a role as Laura Brown in the operatic adaptation of Michael Cunningham's novel The Hours. She said "I love the fact that you have these things at the same time, because I don't ever want to be put in one box. I couldn't be happier or more challenged to have these three things happening at once."

In May 2023, O'Hara originated the role of Kirsten Arnesen in the musical adaptation of Days of Wine and Roses Off-Broadway at the Linda Gross Theater. In September 2023, it was announced that Days of Wine and Roses would transfer to Broadway's Studio 54 with O'Hara attached. Upon the show's January 2024 opening, a review in New York magazine noted: "O’Hara sings all but four of the play’s songs, and her voice is the kind of instrument that sends people scrabbling for metaphors. It’s a prism, an alpine stream, a Golden Snitch — clear, shimmering and darting, endlessly agile and controlled. She sings like Ginger Rogers dances." The show, originally a limited run set to run until April 28th, closed early on March 31st and garnered O'Hara her eighth Tony nomination at the 77th Tony Awards.

Personal life

O'Hara is married to Greg Naughton of The Sweet Remains, son of actor James Naughton and nephew of actor David Naughton. Their first child, Owen James, was born in 2009. Their daughter, Charlotte, was born in 2013.

Acting credits Film

Television

Theater Year Title Role Venue Notes 1999Jekyll & Hyde Ensemble / Emma Carew (replacement) National Tour 2000 Kate (replacement) / Emma Carew (understudy) Plymouth Theater 2001 FolliesYoung Hattie Walker/EnsembleBelasco Theatre 2002 Sweet Smell of Success: The MusicalSusan HunseckerMartin Beck Theater 2003 My Life with AlbertineAlbertinePlaywrights Horizons Beauty RoseLa Jolla Playhouse 2004 The Light in the Piazza Franca Naccarelli Goodman Theatre Dracula, the MusicalLucy WestenraBelasco Theatre The Light in the Piazza Clara JohnsonVivian Beaumont Theater 2006 The Pajama Game Babe WilliamsAmerican Airlines Theater 2007 Sunday in the Park with GeorgeDot / MarieReprise Theatre Company My Fair LadyEliza DoolittleAvery Fisher Hall Oklahoma!Laurey WilliamsCivic Center Music Hall 2008 South PacificNellie ForbushVivian Beaumont Theater 2010 Bells Are RingingElla PetersonNew York City Center 2011 King LearReganThe Public Theater She Loves Me Amalia BalashStephen Sondheim TheatreConcert 2012 Nice Work If You Can Get It Billie BendixImperial Theatre Far From HeavenCathy WhitakerWilliamstown Theatre Festival 2013 CarouselJulie JordanAvery Fisher Hall Far From Heaven Cathy WhitakerPlaywrights Horizons 2014 The Bridges of Madison County Francesca JohnsonGerald Schoenfeld Theatre The Merry Widow Valencienne Zeta Metropolitan Opera 2015 The King and IAnna LeonowensVivian Beaumont Theater 2016 Dido and AeneasDidoNew York City Center 2017 Brigadoon Fiona MacLarenNew York City Center 2018 Così fan tutteDespinaMetropolitan Opera Gutenberg! The Musical! ProducerJames Earl Jones TheatreOne night only 2024 Days of Wine and Roses Kirsten ArnesenStudio 54 The HoursLaura BrownMetropolitan Opera South PacificNellie ForbushVivian Beaumont TheaterConcert 2025 This World of TomorrowCarmenThe Shed 2026 Fallen AngelsJulia SterrollTodd Haimes Theatre

Discography Solo albums 2008 Wonder in the World 2011 Always

Cast recordings 2002 Sweet Smell of Success 2003 My Life with Albertine 2005 The Light in the Piazza 2006 Harry on Broadway, Act I 2008 South Pacific 2012 Nice Work If You Can Get It 2014 The Bridges of Madison County 2015 The King and I 2019 Kiss Me, Kate 2020 Christmas Day in the Morning 2023 Days of Wine and Roses 2024 The Hours

Soundtracks 2014 Peter Pan Live!

Awards and nominations Organizations Year Category Work Result Dorian Awards 2024 Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical Days of Wine and Roses 2026 Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play Fallen Angels Drama Desk Award 2006 Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Pajama Game 2008 Outstanding Actress in a Musical South Pacific 2012 Outstanding Actress in a Musical Nice Work If You Can Get It 2014 Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Bridges of Madison County 2024 Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical Days of Wine and Roses Drama League Awards 2012 Distinguished Performance Nice Work If You Can Get It 2014 Distinguished Performance The Bridges of Madison County 2015 Distinguished Performance The King and I 2019 Distinguished Performance Kiss Me, Kate Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre 2024 Distinguished Performance Days of Wine and Roses 2026 Distinguished Performance Fallen Angels Evening Standard Theatre Award 2018 Best Musical Performance The King and I Grammy Award 2012 Best Musical Theater Album Nice Work If You Can Get It 2015 Best Musical Theater Album The King and I 2025 Best Opera Recording The Hours Laurence Olivier Awards 2019 Best Actress in a Musical The King and I Outer Critics Circle Awards 2005 Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical The Light in the Piazza 2006 Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Pajama Game 2008 Outstanding Actress in a Musical South Pacific 2012 Outstanding Actress in a Musical Nice Work If You Can Get It 2014 Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Bridges of Madison County 2015 Outstanding Actress in a Musical The King and I 2019 Outstanding Actress in a Musical Kiss Me, Kate 2024 Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical Days of Wine and Roses 2026 Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway PlayFallen Angels Primetime Emmy Award 2018 Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series The Accidental Wolf Screen Actors Guild Awards 2023 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Gilded Age Tony Awards 2005 Best Featured Actress in a Musical The Light in the Piazza 2006 Best Actress in a Musical The Pajama Game 2008 Best Actress in a Musical South Pacific 2012 Best Actress in a Musical Nice Work If You Can Get It 2014 Best Actress in a Musical The Bridges of Madison County 2015 Best Actress in a Musical The King and I 2019 Best Actress in a MusicalKiss Me, Kate 2024 Best Actress in a Musical Days of Wine and Roses 2026 Best Actress in a PlayFallen Angels