Ruthie Ann Miles (born April 21, 1983) [1] is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in musical theatre, especially in The King and I and Here Lies Love , and on television.
Early in her career, Miles played Christmas Eve in Avenue Q and starred as Imelda Marcos in Here Lies Love off-Broadway, winning a Theatre World Award and a Lucille Lortel Award for the latter role. She performed the role of Lady Thiang in the 2015–2016 Lincoln Center production of The King and I on Broadway, for which she won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In 2016, she had a recurring television role on The Americans . She returned to Broadway as Frieda/Betty in the 2017 revival of Sunday in the Park with George . In 2018, after recovering from injuries from a car crash that killed her daughter and caused her to lose her unborn child, Miles returned to the stage, reprising her role in the West End production of The King and I.
From 2019 to 2023, Miles played Sherri Kansky in the television series All Rise . In 2023, she is playing the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd on Broadway, for which she was nominated for another Tony Award.
Miles was born in Arizona and raised by her Korean mother, Esther Wong, a music teacher, first in Korea and, from 2nd grade, in Honolulu, Hawaii. "I had to work very quickly and very hard to break my accent," Miles has said. [2] She attended Kaimuki High School, graduating in 2001, [3] and then Southern Oregon University [4] before earning her bachelor's degree at Palm Beach Atlantic University in 2005. [5] She received a Master of Music in Vocal Performance with an emphasis on music theatre at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. [6]
With the off-Broadway York Theatre, Miles appeared as Leah in Two by Two and Red Urchin in The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd . [7] [8] She played Christmas Eve and other characters in Avenue Q off-Broadway for two years beginning in 2011. For her starring role as Imelda Marcos in Here Lies Love , in 2013 off-Broadway at The Public Theatre, [3] [9] she won a Theatre World Award and a Lucille Lortel Award. Miles has appeared in national tours of Sweeney Todd (as Adolfo Pirelli) and Annie . [6] She has played numerous roles in regional theatre and appeared as a doctor in the film I Am Michael . [8] [10]
Miles received positive reviews for her role as Lady Thiang in the 2015 Broadway revival of The King and I , with Ben Brantley of The New York Times writing that she "turns 'Something Wonderful' into an exquisite expression of romantic realism that could be the show's anthem." [11] Another critic called her "the one featured performer in a play or musical, on or off-Broadway, who I thought was giving the best performance this season ... [her] Lady Thiang is more empathetic than in other productions I have seen. ... People who see this King and I will think about Lady Thiang. They will think about what she knows, what she feels." [12] For this role, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. [10] [13]
In 2016, Miles appeared in a recurring role in the television series The Americans , playing Young-Hee Seong, a Korean immigrant and Mary Kay consultant whose husband is of interest to the KGB. [2] [14] She returned to Broadway in 2017 as Frieda/Betty in the revival of Sunday in the Park with George . [15] In February 2018, Miles played Svetlana in a Kennedy Center concert production of the musical Chess . [16] In August 2018, Miles joined the West End production of The King and I, reprising her Broadway role. [17]
From 2019 to 2023, Miles played the featured role of Sherri Kansky in the television series All Rise . [18] [19] She returned to Broadway in February 2023 as the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, for which she was nominated for another Tony Award. [20] During a brief break from Sweeney Todd in June, Miles played Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza in a New York City Encores! production that "reexamined the musical ... from an Asian American perspective. [21] A week later, she sang the national anthem at A Capitol Fourth . [22]
She is married to Jonathan Blumenstein. On March 5, 2018, Miles was injured, and the couple's five-year-old [23] daughter Abigail Blumenstein was killed, while crossing a street in Brooklyn, New York, after they and other pedestrians were struck by a car that was driven through a red light. [24] [25] Miles was 7 months pregnant with her second child at the time of the incident. On May 11, 2018, Miles and Blumenstein lost their unborn daughter. [26] Miles returned to the stage in August 2018. [17] She gave birth to a daughter in April 2020 named Hope Elizabeth. [27]
Year | Title | Role | Theatre | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Two by Two | Leah | Cumberland County Playhouse | |
2008–09 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Adolfo Pirelli | U.S. National Tour | |
2009 | Avenue Q | Ensemble | New World Stages | |
2010 | The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd | Red Bully | York Theatre | |
2013–15 | Here Lies Love | Imelda Marcos | The Public Theater | |
2015–16 | The King and I | Lady Thiang | Vivian Beaumont Theater | |
2016 | Sunday in the Park with George | Frieda/Betty | New York City Center | |
2017 | Hudson Theatre | |||
2018 | Chess | Svetlana | Eisenhower Theater | |
The King and I | Lady Thiang | London Palladium | ||
2019 | Camelot | Nimue | Vivian Beaumont Theatre (one-night benefit concert) | |
The King and I | Lady Thiang | Tokyu Orb Theatre | ||
2023–24 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | The Beggar Woman | Lunt-Fontanne Theatre | |
2023 | The Light in the Piazza | Margaret Johnson | New York City Center Encores! | |
2024 | A Little Night Music | Countess Charlotte | Lincoln Center (concert performance) |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Over The Moon | Mother | Voice; Animated film | [35] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | The Americans | Young Hee Seong | 6 episodes | |
2017 | Elementary | Rockaway Detective | Episode: "Be My Guest" | |
2019–23 | All Rise | Sherri Kansky | Main cast; 58 episodes | |
2022 | Evil | Dr. Beverly Swan | Episode: "The Demon of Death" |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical | Here Lies Love | Won | |
Theatre World Award | Honoree | ||||
2015 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | The King and I | Won | |
Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Won | |||
2019 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical | Nominated | ||
2023 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Nominated |
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Manhattan. The ceremony is held on the second Sunday of June.
The King and I is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel Anna and the King of Siam (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The musical's plot relates the experiences of Anna, a British schoolteacher who is hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict through much of the piece, as well as by a love to which neither can admit. The musical premiered on March 29, 1951, at Broadway's St. James Theatre. It ran for nearly three years, making it the fourth-longest-running Broadway musical in history at the time, and has had many tours and revivals.
Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal".
Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972 she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, and two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Audra Ann McDonald is an American actress and singer. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win in all four acting categories. In addition to her six Tony Awards she has received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2016 from President Barack Obama, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017.
Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, a role which she reprised in 2021 for a production in London and for which she received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her other Broadway credits include Grease, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Violet, The Music Man, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. On television, Foster played the lead role in the short-lived ABC Family comedy-drama Bunheads from 2012 to 2013. From 2015 to 2021, she starred in the TV Land comedy-drama Younger.
Carolee Carmello is an American actress best known for her performances in Broadway musicals and for playing the role of Maple LaMarsh on the television series Remember WENN (1996–1998). She is a three-time Tony Award nominee and a five-time Drama Desk nominee, winning the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her role in Parade.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
Donna Murphy is an American actress, best known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in Passion (1994–1995) and as Anna Leonowens in The King and I (1996–1997). She was also nominated for her roles as Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town (2003), Lotte Lenya in LoveMusik (2007), and Bubbie/Raisel in The People in the Picture (2011).
Celia Keenan-Bolger is an American actress and singer. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for portraying Scout Finch in the play To Kill a Mockingbird (2018). She was Tony-nominated for her roles in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), Peter and the Starcatcher (2012), and The Glass Menagerie (2014).
Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Mamma Mia!, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.
Laura Ilene Benanti is an American actress and singer. Over the course of her Broadway career, she has received five Tony Award nominations. She played Louise in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, winning the 2008 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Benanti then appeared in the Broadway musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in 2010, winning the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She played Elsa Schräder in the 2013 NBC television production of The Sound of Music Live! and, in 2015, began playing Supergirl's twin mother and aunt Alura and Astra in the TV series Supergirl. Benanti appeared as Edie Randall in the TBS comedy The Detour from 2017 until the show's cancellation in 2019. Since 2016, she has had a recurring role as First Lady Melania Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Alice Ripley is an American actress, singer, songwriter and mixed media artist. She is known, in particular, for her various roles on Broadway in musicals, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal and Side Show. She most recently played three roles in the short-lived Broadway musical, American Psycho. Alice Ripley has released albums with her band, RIPLEY, including the single, "Beautiful Eyes", released in February 2012. She also performs as a solo artist, while in February 2011 she released Alice Ripley Daily Practice, Volume 1, a stripped-down collection of acoustic rock covers.
Annaleigh Amanda 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).
Mrs. Lovett is a fictional character appearing in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. Her first name is most commonly referred to as Nellie, although she has also been referred to as Amelia, Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhelmina, Mary and Claudetta. A baker from London, Mrs. Lovett is an accomplice and business partner of Sweeney Todd, a barber and serial killer from Fleet Street. She makes meat pies from Todd’s victims.
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply TheOlivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984.
Lucy Barker is a fictional character that appears in some versions of the story Sweeney Todd. Lucy is the wife of barber Benjamin Barker, who is unjustly imprisoned by Judge Turpin, who wants Lucy for himself. After Turpin sexually abuses her, Lucy attempts suicide with poison, but survives and goes insane. Years later, Benjamin Barker, now calling himself "Sweeney Todd", returns to London and his neighbor, Mrs. Lovett tells Todd about Lucy poisoning herself, but leaves out that Lucy lived. He later finds Lucy as a beggar woman; not recognizing her, he slits her throat, before killing Mrs. Lovett.
Rachel Bay Jones is an American actress and singer. She has played the roles of Catherine in the 2013 Broadway revival of Pippin and Evan Hansen's mother, Heidi Hansen, in Dear Evan Hansen. The latter earned her an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and the 2017 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She emerged as one of few artists to have received three of the four major American entertainment awards.
Here Lies Love is a musical with music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, and lyrics by Byrne.
Ashley Jini Park is an American actress and musician. She is best known for her portrayal of Mindy Chen on the Netflix comedy series Emily in Paris. She originated the role of Gretchen Wieners in the Broadway musical Mean Girls, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.