Liz Callaway Biography

Liz Callaway (born April 13, 1961) is an American actress and singer, famous for providing the singing voices of many female characters in films, such as Anya/Anastasia in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, and the Adult Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

Biography

Born in Chicago, Callaway made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's short-lived but now famous Merrily We Roll Along (1981). This began a long-term professional relationship with Sondheim: Callaway has performed in a number of live concerts in his honor, appeared with Sondheim on Inside the Actors Studio and also played the role of Young Sally in the Lincoln Center concert production of Follies with Mandy Patinkin, Barbara Cook, George Hearn, Lee Remick, Carol Burnett, Elaine Stritch and the New York Philharmonic. Follies was recorded live and also filmed as a documentary. This recording is considered the definitive recording of the legendary Sondheim/Goldman/Prince collaboration. Additional stage credits include Lizzie in Baby (for which she earned a Tony Award nomination), The Three Musketeers, The Spitfire Grill (for which she earned a Drama Desk Award nomination), Sunday in the Park with George, Evita, Cats, and Miss Saigon. Liz also performed in The Look of Love, a 2003 musical revue of the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Callaway also had her own children's television show on WNEV-TV in Boston, Ready to Go, which ran from 1987 to 1991. She left this series in order to begin rehearsals for Miss Saigon on Broadway.

In July 2012, Ms. Callaway will star as Norma Desmond in the Pittsburgh CLO's new production of Sunset Boulevard

Callaway has also provided the singing voices for a number of animated characters, including Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Princess Jasmine in The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Odette in The Swan Princess, and Anya/Anastasia in Anastasia.

She has performed various cabaret acts at Joe's Pub, Rainbow & Stars, the Russian Tea Room, and the Lincoln Center in New York City, and at the Donmar Warehouse in London, among other venues.

Callaway's solo recordings include Anywhere I Wander (1993), The Story Goes On (1995), and The Beat Goes On (2001). She released her fourth recording, Passage of Time, for the record label PS Classics, on October 20, 2009 which featured an appearance with her sister Ann Hampton Callaway. The album has garnered rave reviews.

Callaway is the sister of singer and composer Ann Hampton Callaway, with whom she sang the theme song for the Fran Drescher comedy series The Nanny, composed by Hampton Callaway. The Callaway sisters have appeared together in a number of cabaret and stage productions. Recordings of two of them, Sibling Revelry, recorded live at Rainbow and Stars in 1995 and Boom! recorded live at Birdland in 2011, have been released. Liz Callaway is married to former actor and acclaimed director Dan Foster. Foster is one of the three founding producers of the Hudson Stage Company, a non-profit, professional theatre company in residence at Pace University in Westchester County, New York. She is the daughter of the late journalist John Callaway and singer and voice teacher Shirley Callaway.

Callaway was honored at the 25th Annual Bistro Awards in New York City.

Liz Callaway also has a son, Nicholas - a senior at Kenyon College.