B. J. Ward (actress)

Last updated

B. J. Ward
BJ Ward (2018 crop).jpg
Ward in 2018
Born
Betty Jean Ward

(1944-09-12) September 12, 1944 (age 79)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1960–present
Agent SBV Talent Agency
Spouses
  • (m. 1966;div. 1978)
  • (m. 1995;died 2016)
Website bjwardnow.com

Betty Jean Ward [1] (born September 12, 1944) [2] is an American actress. She is the creator and the star of Stand-Up Opera, a musical one-woman show.

Contents

Personal life

Ward was first married to Donald Trenner in 1966, they divorced in 1978, [1] She was later married to director Gordon Hunt from 1995 until his death in 2016. [3]

Career

Early career

She made her debut on the stage in 1960, in the original off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks , where she was an understudy for the role of Luisa/the Girl. B.J. Ward had gotten the part by calling the producer of the show. [1]

She toured with the Groundlings for a short while before starting her own voice over career starting with Hanna-Barbera's Jana of the Jungle in 1978. [4]

Singing career

Ward also worked as a singer. She is well known for her acclaimed one-woman show, "Stand-Up Opera", which became a massive success with critics and audiences alike. [5] She has released seven albums throughout her singing career.

Though Ward is best known as a voice actress, she has also appeared on television. In 1985, she made a rare film appearance in the TV movie Malice in Wonderland alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Alexander. She has guest-starred on television series such as Frasier , ER, and In-Laws .

Ward has also done voices for video games and for theme parks, including:

Filmography

Television

Film

Video games

Discography

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Don Heckman (March 13, 1987). "B.J. Ward: She Talks A Good Show". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  2. "Rotten Tomatoes: Movies | TV Shows | Movie Trailers | Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on May 9, 2022.
  3. Steve Marble (December 20, 2016). "Gordon Hunt, director, voice actor and father of Helen Hunt, dies at 87". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  4. "BJ Ward" . Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Music" . Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  6. 1 2 "BJ Ward (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 30, 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)