Erika Amato | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 7, 1969 Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | Vassar College (AB) |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1992–present |
Erika Amato (born December 7, 1969) is an American singer, actress and a founding member of the band Velvet Chain.
Amato was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Mountainside. [1] She started playing and performing music at the age of three. Amato attended the all-girls Kent Place School (receiving the Drama Award upon graduation) and then Vassar College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama. [2] While at Vassar, she performed in the Music Department's a cappella group, the Madrigals, and in the student-managed coeducational a cappella group, Matthew's Minstrels.
After Vassar, Amato moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and was cast as a guest star on popular TV series Quantum Leap , garnering her a SAG card. In the mid-1990s, she founded Velvet Chain with her now-deceased husband, Jeff Stacy. The indie band was most famous for appearances on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the subsequent soundtrack album on TVT Records. The band has also self-released several albums on its own label, Freak Productions, and members continue to write and record material. [3]
The entertainer continues to perform and has relocated to New York City, where she has been in numerous productions, including the Off-Broadway musicals The Sphinx Winx and Signs of Life. [4] She has also appeared in several films over the years, including the lead in indie film A Couple of Days and Nights [5] and in musicals throughout North America, including the First National Tour of Flashdance the Musical , [6] Into the Woods (Ocean State Theatre Company - Broadway World Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical), [7] Sleeping Beauty Wakes (Center Theatre Group - Ovation Award Nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical), [8] Paint Your Wagon (Geffen Playhouse), Nine (Chance Theater - OC Weekly Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical), [9] 42nd Street (Welk Resort Theatre), and Anything Goes (Candlelight Pavilion - Inland Theatre League Awards Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical).
She also does voice work for TV shows and films, most recently for the PBS animated series Danger Rangers and Disney feature film Enchanted .
Amato appeared on the TV competition Win Ben Stein's Money , and won. [10] She was also a contestant on Jeopardy!, but did not win.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Smack | Mr. Snooper | |
| 2005 | A Couple of Days and Nights | Jula Diva | |
| 2020 | The Half of It | Arguing Woman in Restaurant | Uncredited |
| 2021 | The God Committee | Research Scientist |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Quantum Leap | Lt. Anna Guri | 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Bringing up Jack | Sandy | Episode: "The Contest" |
| 1997 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Band Member | Episode: "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" |
| 2005 | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's | Momoko Takamachi | Episode: "Hajimari wa totsuzen ni nano" |
| 2009 | The Message Board | Dita Malone | Episode: "What Makes a Legend Least?" |
| 2018 | You | Costumed Dickens Festival-Goer | Episode: "The Captain" |
| 2020 | The Homemade Sketch Show | Musical Guest | Episode: "Host-Matt O'Brien, Musical Guest-Erika Amato of Velvet Chain" |
| 2021 | Power Book III: Raising Kanan | White Sales Lady | Episode: "Stay in Your Lane" |
Irene Cara Escalera was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film Fame, and for recording the film's title song "Fame", which reached No. 1 in several countries. In 1983, Cara co-wrote and sang the song "Flashdance... What a Feeling", for which she shared an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984.
Ellen Tyne Daly is an American actress whose six-decade career included many leading roles in movies and theater. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, a Tony Award, and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee.
Jennifer Westfeldt is an American actress, screenwriter, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film Kissing Jessica Stein, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay. She is also known for writing, producing, starring in, and making her directorial debut in the indie film, Friends with Kids (2012).
Hope Davis is an American actress. She is known for her performances on stage and screen earning various awards including nominations for a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Frances Goodrich was an American actress, dramatist, and screenwriter, best known for her collaborations with her partner and husband Albert Hackett. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with her husband in 1956 for The Diary of Anne Frank which had premiered the previous year.
Norbert Leo Butz is an American actor and singer known for his work in Broadway theatre. He is a two-time recipient of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and is one of only nine actors ever to have won the award twice.
Rosetta LeNoire was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was known to contemporary audiences for her work in television. She had regular roles on such series as Gimme a Break! and Amen, and is particularly known for her role as Estelle "Mother" Winslow on Family Matters. In 1999, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Christine Ebersole is an American actress, singer and comedian. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She has received two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award as well as a nomination for a Daytime Emmy Award.
Marcia Mitzman Gaven is an American actress from New York. Since studying at the High School of Performing Arts and the State University of New York at Purchase, she has appeared in many musicals during her career singing in both mezzo-soprano and soprano roles. Her Broadway debut came in 1979 when she played Betty Rizzo in Grease, serving as the replacement for the original actress of the role. In the 1980s she appeared in the musicals The Rocky Horror Show, Oliver!, Zorba, Nine, Anything Goes, Chess, and Welcome to the Club, and in the operas Brigadoon, South Pacific, and Sweeney Todd.
Jillian Armenante is an American television and film actress, known for playing the role of Donna Kozlowski on the TV show Judging Amy.
Kent Place School is a girls' independent college-preparatory day school serving students in preschool through twelfth grade in Summit, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Meredith Anne Bishop is an American actress, writer and producer. Bishop is best known for her role as Annie Mack in Nickelodeon's The Secret World of Alex Mack, which ran on the network from 1994–1998.
Sergio Trujillo is a Colombian theater director, choreographer, dancer, and actor. Born in Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, he is an American citizen and resides in New York City. Trujillo was the recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Ain't Too Proud and the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Memphis. He is the first ever Hispanic recipient of the Tony Award for Best Choreography.
Montego Glover is an American stage actress and singer. She has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the musical Memphis and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical.
Lesli Margherita is an American stage and screen actress. She is best known for originating the roles of Inez in the musical Zorro, for which she won a Laurence Olivier Award, and Mrs. Wormwood in the Broadway cast of Matilda the Musical.
Anika Larsen is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2014 for portraying Cynthia Weil in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Larsen has made an album of recordings titled, Sing You To Sleep.
Sleeping Beauty Wakes is a musical with book by Rachel Sheinkin, who won a Tony Award for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and a pop score by composer Brendan Milburn and lyricist Valerie Vigoda, two members of the indie music trio GrooveLily. The show is a twist on the classic Charles Perrault fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. In this modern-day version, Rose is brought to a sleep-disorder clinic to wake her from her 900-year nap.
Lilli Cooper is an American actress and singer.
Kate Morgan Chadwick is an American actress, singer, film producer and writer whose work includes roles in Hail, Caesar! (2016), Rated (2016), Bed (2016) and Oh, Baby! (2020).
Marisha Wallace is an American actress and singer, best known for her work in musical theatre.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|