Christina Rose Polkowski is an American actress and producer best known to audiences for her work in Grease on Broadway, the award-winning movie musical ''How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song'', and as the voice of

Celes Chere Celes Chere is a fictional character and protagonist in the video game ''Final Fantasy VI''. She was created by Yoshinori Kitase and was his favorite character in the game. She struggles with allegiances between the Empire and the rebel group the ...

in ''

World of Final Fantasy ''World of Final Fantasy'' is a role-playing video game developed by Tose (company), Tose and published by Square Enix. It is a spin-off of the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise, featuring characters from across its mainline and supplementary entries. ...

''.

Early life

Rose was born in Naples, Italy, the daughter of Mary and Allen Polkowski. She was raised in Macomb Twp., MI and performed in the family band, ''The Odyssey Sound System'', for many years prior to graduating from

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

with her BFA in Musical Theatre Performance.

Career

Rose started performing at a very young age making her professional dance debut as an acrobat in '' The Nutcracker Ballet'' at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. Soon to follow were numerous starring roles in various theatre productions. Once graduating from

she immediately joined the cast of the First National Tour of ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...

'' in 2004. Rose moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

immediately following her run with the tour. She signed a contract with

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

in Orlando, Florida, where she joined the original cast of ''

Finding Nemo – The Musical ''Finding Nemo – The Musical'' is a live puppet and musical stage show based on Disney/Pixar's 2003 film ''Finding Nemo'', located at the Theater in the Wild in DinoLand U.S.A at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Flori ...

''. Rose left the show to make her Broadway Debut in '' Grease'' at the

Brooks Atkinson Theatre The Lena Horne Theatre (previously the Mansfield Theatre and the Brooks Atkinson Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 256 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1926, it was designed by Herbert J ...

in New York City. During Rose's run with ''Grease'', she was able to shoot various commercials during the day.

Filmography

Theatre

Discography

References

External links

* * American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American television actresses American video game actresses American voice actresses People from Macomb County, Michigan Central Michigan University alumni Living people 21st-century American actresses Year of birth missing (living people) {{Musical-theat-stub