Mary Testa

Mary Testa is an American stage and film actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town, 42nd Street (2001) and Oklahoma (2019).

Early life Testa was born in Philadelphia and has one sister. At age four, her family moved to Rhode Island. She studied acting at the University of Rhode Island. Testa left school to move to New York in 1976 to pursue a performing career.

Stage Testa made her debut Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons as Miss Goldberg in William Finn's one-act musical In Trousers (1979), part one of his "Marvin Trilogy." She next performed in Finn's March of the Falsettos, and later in Company, at Playwrights.

On December 28, 2020, it was announced that Testa would star as Skinner in a benefit concert presentation of Ratatouille the Musical, an internet meme that originated on TikTok, inspired by the 2007 Disney/Pixar film. The concert streamed exclusively on TodayTix on January 1, 2021.

Film, television and recording Testa made her film debut in Going in Style (1979), and has appeared in numerous movie and television roles since, including Sophia in the 2003 sitcom Whoopi, Zia Maria Luisa in the 2014 film Big Stone Gap, and Sister Clare in the 2004 film adaptation of Tony n' Tina's Wedding. She also appeared in such films as The Business of Strangers (2001), Stay (2005), Eat Pray Love (2010), The Bounty Hunter (2010) and the TV series Law & Order, Whoopi's Littleburg, 2 Broke Girls, Smash, White Collar, Cosby, Sex and the City, and Life on Mars.

From 1999 to 2002, she appeared frequently as the voice of Shirley the Medium on Courage the Cowardly Dog.

Selected stage credits

Selected concert appearances Broadway Unplugged 2004 ("Hard-Hearted Hannah: The Vamp of Savannah") Broadway Unplugged 2005 ("The Thrill is Gone") The Broadway Musicals of 1930 ("I Happen to Like New York" and "My First Love—My Last Love") The Broadway Musicals of 1933 ("I'll Be Hard to Handle" and "Harlem on My Mind")

Awards and nominations