Aileen Quinn | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Aileen Marie Quinn |
Born | Yardley, Pennsylvania, U.S. | June 28, 1971
Occupation(s) | Actress, singer, dancer |
Years active | 1981–present |
Labels |
|
Website | Official website |
Aileen Marie Quinn (born June 28, 1971) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her role as the title character in the 1982 film Annie , which earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations.
Quinn was born on June 28, 1971, and raised in Yardley, Pennsylvania. The oldest child of Helen Ann Quinn and Andrew Quinn Sr., she is the older sister of Andrew Quinn Jr. [1] She began dance lessons when she was 4 at Knecht Dance Academy in Levittown, Pennsylvania, learning ballet and tap dance. [2]
When she was young, Quinn was introduced to show business by her mother, who was a TV, radio, and stage singer/actress then elementary school teacher. Quinn begged to audition for a part in a local community theater production of Annie Get Your Gun and won a role. [2] She performed in additional community productions.
Raised in Far Hills, New Jersey, she attended Grey Nun Academy during elementary school [3] and attended Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, New Jersey for high school. [4]
Taking a break after her child acting career, at the age of 18, Quinn decided to focus on school. She graduated from Drew University in 1994. [5] She was a language major with a minor in political science, and is a member of Sigma Delta Pi, a Spanish honor society.
After obtaining an agent, Quinn won a small role in the film Paternity and commercial work in New York City. She began appearing in television commercials including Planters Cheez Balls, Shake ‘n Bake and Northern bathroom tissue. At age 8 she landed the role in New York City of the "swing orphan" [2] (understudy to all of the orphans except Molly and Annie) in the Broadway production of Annie . [3]
After eight auditions over the course of a year, and up against over 8,000 other competitors, [1] Quinn received the title role in the 1982 movie Annie , directed by John Huston. [3] Annie earned Quinn two Golden Globe nominations, a win for "Best Actress" from the Youth in Film Awards, and a Razzie for "Worst New Star". Aileen was 9 years old when she was cast as Annie. [6]
Aileen Quinn was under contract for several years with Columbia Pictures to make other Annie sequels which never materialized. [7] During this time, she continued performing in lead roles in regional theater in such shows as The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), Bye, Bye Birdie (Kim), Annie (Annie), Shenandoah (Jenny), and A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (Harpo). She also lent her voice to two animated cartoon specials which aired on national television, The Charmkins and The Wizard of Oz . The Annie film soundtrack album went platinum, and subsequently Quinn released her own album, Bobby's Girl, in 1982. Soon after that release, she starred as Princess Zora in the classic fairy tale The Frog Prince , which was released on videocassette and aired on the Disney Channel several times.
After graduation from college, Quinn once again took to the stage. In 1994, she appeared as Bette in Oliver! at Paper Mill Playhouse. She toured the US for more than five years with three Broadway national tours: Fiddler on the Roof (Chava), Peter Pan (Tootles/Jane) and Saturday Night Fever (Annette). She studied Shakespeare in London, where she appeared in As You Like It and Twelfth Night at LAMDA. Off-Broadway productions include Dreamstuff (Princess), Creature (Elizabeth) and Yiddle With a Fiddle (Yiddle). Regional theater credits up to the present include The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Molly), That Was Then (World Premiere Play-April Gregory), and Funny, You Don't Look Like a Grandmother (her Daughter).
Quinn appeared in a few small roles in independent films between 2006 and 2010, most notably portraying Lily in Annie at Theatre Aspen. She hosted Generation Gap, an interactive sitcom used to teach kids how to resolve conflicts. It was written and directed by filmmaker Edna Harris and aired on PBS in 2004. Quinn played a minor role in the 2009 film Multiple Sarcasms which stars Timothy Hutton and Mira Sorvino.
Quinn was an adjunct theater professor at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. [8] Some of the school's campus was the site of the film version of Annie. [5] [9] She was awarded an honorary degree from Monmouth University in 2009. [10] Quinn was also a Spanish, drama, and dance teacher at Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City, New Jersey.
She has her own band, Aileen Quinn and The Leapin' Lizards. [5] [11] Quinn met her bandmates after a neighbor heard her singing in her apartment, then introduced Quinn to the other musicians. [12] They released their first album, Spin Me, in 2015. [13] They released their second album, Lightning and Thunder, in November 2019. [14]
Quinn is fluent in Spanish. She spent six months with a family in Chile as part of an exchange program and considers it one of her life's most rewarding experiences. [15]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | Paternity | Little Girl at Park | Uncredited |
1982 | Annie | Annie Bennett Warbucks | Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress Young Artist Award for Best Young Motion Picture Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star |
1982 | The Wizard of Oz | Dorothy Gale | Voice role |
1982 | Lights, Camera, Annie! | Herself | |
1982 | Andy Williams Early New England Christmas | Herself | TV special |
1983 | The Charmkins | Brown-Eyed Susan | TV special |
1986 | The Frog Prince | Princess Zora | |
1986 | The Great Space Coaster | Herself | |
2007 | 30 | Maggie | |
2010 | Multiple Sarcasms | School secretary | |
2014 | The Comeback Kids | Dr. Quinn | 2 episodes |
2020 | Will & Grace | Ramona Delaney | Episode: "Performance Anxiety" |
2023 | Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love | Herself | TV special |
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie.
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on August 5, 1924, in the New York Daily News.
June Havoc was a Canadian-born American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist.
Jane Krakowski is an American actress. She starred as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series 30 Rock, for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Krakowski's other television roles have included Elaine Vassal in the Fox legal comedy-drama series Ally McBeal (1997–2002) and Jacqueline White in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020). For the latter, she received another Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nomination.
Annie is a musical with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Thomas Meehan. It is based on the 1924 comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre. It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won seven Tony Awards, including for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers.
Elisabeth Shue is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films The Karate Kid (1984), Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Cocktail (1988), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Soapdish (1991), The Saint (1997), Hollow Man (2000), Piranha 3D (2010), Battle of the Sexes (2017), Death Wish (2018) and Greyhound (2020). For her performance in Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Shue was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress as well as a BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Award.
Raymond Otto Stark was an American film producer and talent agent. Stark's background as a literary and theatrical agent prepared him to produce some of the most profitable films of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, such as The World of Suzie Wong (1960), West Side Story (1961), The Misfits (1961), Lolita (1962), The Night of the Iguana (1964), Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), Funny Girl (1968), The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), The Goodbye Girl (1977), The Toy (1982), Annie (1982), and Steel Magnolias (1989).
Little Annie Rooney is a comic strip about a young orphaned girl who traveled about with her dog, Zero.
Laurie Hope Beechman was an American actress and singer, known for her work in Broadway musicals. She also had a career as a cabaret performer and recording artist. After her death, the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar in New York was renamed the Laurie Beechman Theatre.
Gretchen Hoyt Corbett is an American actress and theater director. She is primarily known for her roles in television, particularly as attorney Beth Davenport on the NBC series The Rockford Files, but has also had a prolific career as a stage actress on Broadway as well as in regional theater.
Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child is an independent Catholic private school in Summit, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is coeducational from pre-kindergarten to grade 6 and all-girls for seventh grade to twelfth grade. The school is a member of the international Holy Child Network of Schools, under the supervision of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1992. The school is a member of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.
Bobby's Girl is the debut album by Aileen Quinn. It was released on cassette and LP in November 1982 by Columbia Records (ARC-38378). Aileen Quinn released Bobby's Girl in 1982 six months after her debut film Annie was released in theaters.
Annie is a 1982 American musical comedy-drama film based on the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan, which in turn is based on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip created by Harold Gray. Directed by John Huston and written by Carol Sobieski, the cast includes Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Geoffrey Holder, Edward Herrmann, with Aileen Quinn as the title character. It is the first film adaptation of the musical.
Pamela Blair was an American actress best known for originating the role of Val in the musical A Chorus Line and several appearances on American soap operas.
Annie is a 1999 American musical-comedy-drama television film from The Wonderful World of Disney, adapted from the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, and Thomas Meehan, which in turn is based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. It is the first remake and the second film adaptation of the musical following the 1982 theatrical film starring Aileen Quinn, Carol Burnett, and Albert Finney.
Annaleigh Ashford is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her early roles on Broadway include in the musicals Wicked (2007), Legally Blonde (2007), and Hair (2010). She received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for playing Essie Carmichael in You Can't Take It With You (2014–2015). Her other Tony-nominated roles include Lauren in Kinky Boots (2013) and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2023). She also starred in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George (2017).
Toni Ann Gisondi is a former child actress, best known for playing Molly—the youngest orphan—in the 1982 film version of the musical Annie.
Amanda Balon is an American former child actress, vocalist and dancer, best known for playing the title role in the nationwide Broadway tour of the musical Annie. Amanda initially joined the 30th anniversary cast as the youngest orphan, Molly. At age ten, she was given the lead role of Little Orphan Annie. She remained with the production company NETworks Presentations for 3 years.
Annie is a 2014 American musical comedy- drama film directed by Will Gluck, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Aline Brosh McKenna. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment, Marcy Media Films, and Olive Bridge Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is a contemporary film adaptation of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, and Thomas Meehan's 1977 Broadway musical of the same name. The film shifts the setting from the Great Depression to the present day and is the second remake and the third film adaptation of the musical, following the 1982 theatrical film starring Carol Burnett and Albert Finney, and the 1999 television film starring Kathy Bates and Victor Garber. The revival film stars Quvenzhané Wallis in the title role, alongside Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale and Cameron Diaz. Annie began production in August 2013 and, following it's premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 7, 2014, it was released theatrically in the United States on December 19, 2014.
Molly June Gordon is an American actress, screenwriter and director. She has appeared in the drama TV series Animal Kingdom (2016–2018), and comedy films Life of the Party (2018), Booksmart (2019), and Good Boys (2019). In 2023, she co-directed, co-wrote and starred in the musical comedy film Theater Camp, and took on a recurring role as Claire on the FX series The Bear (2023–present).
Aileen Quinn of Far Hills has been named to the first honor roll at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit for having achieved not less than an 'A' in all subjects. Aileen is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Quinn of Far Hills.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)