Sutton Foster

Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for her work in Broadway stage musicals and on television. Her accolades include two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, a Drama League Award, and three Outer Critics Circle Awards, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award. On television, she is best known for her starring roles in the comedy-drama series Bunheads and Younger.

Foster was born on March 18, 1975, in Statesboro, Georgia, and grew up in Troy, Michigan. At age 15, she competed on Star Search and auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club. She left high school to join the national tour of The Will Rogers Follies, directed by Tommy Tune, finishing her diploma through correspondence courses. After studying at Carnegie Mellon University for a year, she left to pursue theater full-time. Her older brother, Hunter Foster, is also an actor.

Her early theatrical career included touring in Grease in 1995, joining its Broadway cast in 1996, and appearing in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Annie, and Les Misérables. In 2000, she joined the ensemble for the pre-Broadway run of Thoroughly Modern Millie and was cast in the title role of Millie Dilmount shortly before previews began. When the show opened on Broadway in 2002, Foster received her breakthrough, winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award.

Following her breakthrough, Foster earned additional Tony Award nominations for her roles in Little Women in 2005, The Drowsy Chaperone in 2006, and Shrek the Musical in 2008. She also starred in Young Frankenstein from 2007 to 2008, released her debut solo album Wish in 2009, and made her Off-Broadway debut in Trust in 2010. She won her second Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Reno Sweeney in the 2011 Broadway revival of Anything Goes, a role she reprised in 2021 at London's Barbican Theatre.

Foster continued her Broadway success with Tony-nominated roles in Violet in 2014 and The Music Man in 2022, and she starred in Once Upon a Mattress in 2024. On television, she played lead characters in Bunheads from 2012 to 2013 and Younger from 2015 to 2021, earning Critics' Choice Television Award nominations for both roles. She has also taught master classes at New York University and Ball State University, receiving honorary doctorates from Ball State in 2012 and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2019.