I’ve read a lot of actor “bios” over the past few years, and many of them are not really “bios” at all – they’re resumés in prose form. Well, my credits and special skills are on the Resumé page. On this page, you’ll find my story (the performing part, at least). So, let’s begin.

As a child growing up just outside New York City, I had always been “the quiet, smart girl” in school who raised her hand, never got into trouble, loved to draw Disney characters, and played the piano. I was constantly doing something artistic, but had always thought I would grow up to be a cartoonist.

I’ve been playing piano since I was 4 . . . well, 3, actually, but my parents started getting me lessons at 4, figuring that since I was obviously going to keep playing, I might as well learn how to read music. By the time I was in 7th grade, I had already started accompanying the school choruses, but despite my love of singing in private or in groups, I still was too shy to try out for the solos.

It was the summer between 8th and 9th grade when everything changed. My parents wanted me to have something social to do during the summer, and I’d hated camp, so they signed me up for a half-day drama program offered through the local community college. We worked on scenes with a “real New York actress,” and went into the City every Wednesday to see a Broadway matinee. Seeing Jim Dale as “Barnum” changed my life forever. I decided then that I wanted to spend the rest of my life connecting with and touching audiences, and making them feel as alive as I felt watching him that afternoon. My days of accompanying the people on the stage were over – I was ready to BE one of them! You know, I wonder if Mom and Dad will ever forgive themselves.

Several years, a Yale education, a few incredible mentors, and many successes and near misses later, here I am. This girl who was once too shy to get onstage is now an Equity card-carrying actress and singer, as well as a polished commercial voiceover artist who is consistently heard nationally on television, the radio, and the Internet.

And that’s my story, folks . . . so far, at least. Oh! Did I mention that it has always been a dream of mine to voice a Disney (or Disney-like) musical cartoon heroine? Well, if anybody knows anybody . . . (after all, you never know, right?)