Kate Reinders (born December 10, 1980) is an American actress and singer, who has performed as lead and

understudy In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to a ...

in several

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

shows. Reinders was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, but raised in

Spring Lake, Michigan Spring Lake is a village in Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,323 at the 2010 census. The village is located within Spring Lake Township. History In 1837, Captain Benjamin Hopkins purchased land in the area an ...

. She attended

Western Michigan Christian High School Western Michigan Christian High School (commonly Western Michigan Christian, WMCHS, or WMC) is a 7- 12 private, Calvinist Christian school in Muskegon, Michigan, United States. It is accredited by the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools, a ...

, graduating in 1998.

Career

Reinders' Broadway debut was in ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the no ...

'' as a swing and understudy for characters Amy Lawrence and Becky Thatcher. She next joined the 2002 Broadway revival of ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'' as an understudy for Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Milky White, and Rapunzel. Her first starring role was in the 2003 revival of ''

Gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

'' as June; she went on to play Caroline in the 2005

jukebox musical A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known popular music songs, rather than original music. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while others confine themselves to songs perf ...

Good Vibrations "Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. It was released as a single on October 10, 1966 and was an immediate critical and commercial hit, topping record ...

''. Reinders played

Glinda Glinda is a fictional character created by L. Frank Baum for his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's 1900 children's classic ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', and is the most powerful sorceress in the Land of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Coun ...

in the 2005 Chicago production of ''

Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * Wicked, a minor character in the ''X-Men'' universe * '' Wicked'', a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's ''Pretty Little Liars'' s ...

'', alongside

Ana Gasteyer Ana Kristina Gasteyer (born May 4, 1967) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1996 to 2002. She has since starred in such sitcoms as ABC's '' Suburgatory,'' TBS's ''People of Earth'', NBC's ...

as Elphaba; for this role, she received a

Joseph Jefferson Award The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater sta ...

nomination for Best Actress in a Principal Role. She and Gasteyer finished their runs in the Chicago company on January 22, 2006. On May 30, 2006 Reinders replaced

Megan Hilty Megan Kathleen Hilty (born March 29, 1981) is an American actress and singer. She rose to prominence for her roles in Broadway musicals, including her performance as Glinda the Good Witch in '' Wicked'', Doralee Rhodes in '' 9 to 5: The Musical' ...

as Glinda in the Broadway production. While playing this role she performed "Popular" in a Daily Double about ''Wicked'' on an all-celebrity episode of

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...

. TV personality

Nancy Grace Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted '' Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments ...

gave the correct question. Reinders ended her run on January 7, 2007, along with former Chicago co-star Ana Gasteyer. Reinders performed in the show ''Party Come Here'', which ran as part of the Williamstown Theatre Festival from July 25 through August 5, 2007. She appeared in the play ''The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero'' at the Off-Broadway DR2 Theater in 2007. Reinders was also a member of the band Tastiskank, along with Sarah Litzsinger. Reinders and Litzsinger co-starred opposite Constantine Maroulis in an independent TV pilot called ''Teachers.'' She also had a recurring role as Ginger on the third season of the television series ''

Ugly Betty ''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which was originally broadcast on ABC. It premiered on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombi ...

''. Reinders starred as a regular character, "Paula Morgan", on the Lifetime series '' Sherri'' starring former '' The View'' co-host

Sherri Shepherd Sherri Shepherd (born April 22, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, author, broadcaster, and television personality. She currently hosts the daily syndicated daytime talk show, '' Sherri''. From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was a co-host of the da ...

. The show premiered on October 5, 2009. Reinders returned to the

Gershwin Theatre The Gershwin Theatre (originally the Uris Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 222 West 51st Street, on the second floor of the Paramount Plaza office building, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Opened in 1972, it is operat ...

on October 27, 2008, and took part in ''The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken'', a selection of scenes and songs cut from early drafts of the musical ''Wicked''. Reinders appears in the Mohegan Sun commercial "Everyone's Invited", singing to the tune of the

Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in ...

song "

Super Freak "Super Freak" is a 1981 single produced and performed by American singer Rick James. The song, co-written by James and Alonzo Miller, was first released on James' fifth album, '' Street Songs'' (1981) and became one of James' signature songs. "F ...

" alongside former Wicked co-star Saycon Sengbloh. She appears in the concert revue ''For The Record: Baz Luhrmann'' in Los Angeles, presented by ''ROCKLA'' for ''Show at Barre''. It opened February 12, 2011, and closed June 30, 2011, with

Jenna Leigh Green Jenna Leigh Green (born August 22, 1974) is an American actress and singer best known for her performances as Libby Chessler on the television show ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', as well as for roles on tour in the musical ''Wicked'' and later ...

, Arielle Jacobs, and

Tracie Thoms Tracie Nicole Thoms is an Emmy-nominated American television, film, and stage actress and singer. She is known for her roles in ''Rent'', ''Cold Case'', '' The Devil Wears Prada'', ''Death Proof'', and the short-lived Fox television series ''Wo ...

. Reinders voices the character Jezebel in the video game '' Saints Row: Gat out of Hell''. Reinders originated the role of Portia in the Broadway musical comedy ''

Something Rotten! ''Something Rotten!'' is a musical comedy with a book by John O'Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick and music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick. Set in 1595, the story follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find succes ...

'', which opened April 22, 2015, at the St. James Theatre. Her last performance was on July 16, 2016. Reinders was seen recently on Broadway as the standby for Corky in '' Meteor Shower''. It was announced on October 8, 2018, that Reinders would assume the role of Cynthia Weil in the Broadway production of '' Beautiful: The Carole King Musical'', replacing Kara Lindsay on October 19. As of 2019, she has been portraying Miss Jenn in the

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

series '' High School Musical: The Musical: The Series''.

Personal life

Reinders was born on December 10, 1980, in

. She married fellow actor Andrew Samonsky in May 2016. Reinders gave birth to her son Luke in 2017.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * Kate Reinder
JoyHog! Inquisitor.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinders, Kate American musical theatre actresses Living people People from Muskegon, Michigan 1980 births Actresses from Michigan Singers from Michigan Singers from Washington (state) Actresses from Seattle People from Spring Lake, Michigan 21st-century American women