Kristen Anderson-Lopez (born March 21, 1972) is an American
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...
and
lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment.
Royalties
A lyricist's incom ...
known for co-writing the songs for the 2013 computer-animated musical film ''
Frozen'' and its 2019 sequel ''
Frozen II
''Frozen 2'' (stylized as ''Frozen II'') is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 58th animated film produced by the studi ...
'' with her husband
Robert Lopez
Robert Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is an American songwriter for musicals, best known for co-creating ''The Book of Mormon'' and ''Avenue Q'', and for co-writing the songs featured in the Disney computer-animated films '' Frozen'', its seque ...
. The couple won the
Academy Award for Best Original Song for "
Let It Go
"Let It Go" is a song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert L ...
" from ''Frozen'' and "
Remember Me" from ''
Coco'' (2017) at the
86th and
90th awards respectively. She also won two
Grammy Awards at the
57th Annual Grammy Awards
The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time ...
.
Personal life
Anderson-Lopez was raised in
Croton-on-Hudson, New York
Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt as part of New York City's northern subur ...
(a suburb of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
), until 1986; the
Myers Park neighborhood of
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, from 1986 to 1990; and
Waxhaw, North Carolina
Waxhaw is a town in Union County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 20,534 according to the 2020 Census. The population grew 108.28% from 2010. The name is derived from the indigenous people who lived in the area, who were known a ...
(a suburb of Charlotte), from 1990 onward (which was her home during her college years).
Her parents, Erin and John, still live in Waxhaw.
According to her father, Anderson-Lopez first fell in love with the theater at the age of four, when he took her to see a
U.S. Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...
musical tribute staged in their then-hometown of Croton-on-Hudson.
After her family moved to North Carolina, she attended and graduated from
Charlotte Country Day School
Charlotte Country Day School is a private, secular school in Charlotte, North Carolina, with classes in grades Junior Kindergarten – 12. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Southern Associat ...
.
She went on to
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
in western Massachusetts, where she double-majored in drama and psychology and graduated in 1994.
After a theater internship in Florida,
Anderson-Lopez spent several years working temporary jobs while pursuing her dream of becoming a
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
performer in New York City.
In 1999, she entered the
BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 20.6 mill ...
and found her true calling as a
lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment.
Royalties
A lyricist's incom ...
, and also met her future husband
Robert Lopez
Robert Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is an American songwriter for musicals, best known for co-creating ''The Book of Mormon'' and ''Avenue Q'', and for co-writing the songs featured in the Disney computer-animated films '' Frozen'', its seque ...
.
In October 2003, Anderson married Lopez, who would go on to become an
EGOT-winning songwriter, composer and lyricist, including three
Tony Award
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 ce ...
s for ''
Avenue Q'' and ''
The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude dat ...
''. They have two daughters;
Katie and Annie, who both had voice parts in
''Frozen''.
Anderson-Lopez's sister, Kate Anderson, co-wrote the songs for ''
Olaf's Frozen Adventure
''Olaf's Frozen Adventure'' is a 2017 American 3D computer-animated featurette produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers. The screenplay was written by Jac Schaeffer, with Josh Gad, Kristen Bell, ...
''.
Stage productions
In 2006, Anderson-Lopez and her husband wrote the songs for the
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, ...
production 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 ...
''.
Anderson-Lopez is the co-creator of the musical ''
In Transit'', developed at the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference. The musical ran
Off-Broadway at the 59E59 Theatre, from September 21, 2010, to October 30, 2010. The production received the 2011
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble, as well as a nomination for the 2011
Lucille Lortel Award
The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...
, Outstanding Musical (among others) and the 2011
Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical. It opened on
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 ...
at the
Circle in the Square Theatre
The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, in the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is one of two Broadway theaters that use a thrust stage that extends ...
in November 2016, directed and choreographed by
Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall (born September 28, 1962) is an American director, choreographer, and creative consultant.
Life and career
Born in Madison, Wisconsin, she graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1980 and ...
.
She co-created the romantic stage musical ''Up Here'', which debuted in 2015, with her husband and
Alex Timbers
Alex Timbers (born August 7, 1978) is an American writer and director and the recipient of Tony, Golden Globe, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and London Evening Standard Awards, as well as two OBIE and Lucile Lortel Awards. He is the recipie ...
.
Her work for young audiences includes numerous short and full-length musical adaptations for
Theatreworks USA
TheatreWorksUSA is a professional, not-for-profit theatre for young and family audiences founded in 1961. The company is based out of New York City, but has touring productions that run through forty-nine states as well as parts of Canada. Pl ...
(''Diary of a Worm'', ''
Fancy Nancy
''Fancy Nancy'' is a 2005 children's picture book series written by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. Its first book entry spent nearly 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, resulting in the launch of a series t ...
'', ''Condensed Classics'').
Anderson-Lopez worked with her husband on the
Disney Theatrical Productions
Disney Theatrical Productions Limited (DTP), also known as Disney on Broadway, is the flagship stageplay and musical production company of the Disney Theatrical Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a major business unit of The Walt Di ...
stage musical adaptation of ''
Frozen'', with
Jennifer Lee writing the
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
.
Film and television productions
Anderson-Lopez's first collaborations with her husband involved writing several songs together for children's televisions shows, such as ''
Wonder Pets
''Wonder Pets!'' is an American educational animated children's television series created by Josh Selig for Nickelodeon. The series follows a trio of classroom pets—Linny the Guinea Pig, Turtle Tuck and Ming-Ming Duckling—who use teamwork t ...
'' on
Nick Jr
Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family ...
and ''
Bear in the Big Blue House
''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aire ...
'' on the
Disney Channel.
Anderson-Lopez, along with her husband
Robert Lopez
Robert Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is an American songwriter for musicals, best known for co-creating ''The Book of Mormon'' and ''Avenue Q'', and for co-writing the songs featured in the Disney computer-animated films '' Frozen'', its seque ...
and
Henry Jackman
Henry Pryce Jackman (born 1974) is an English composer. He composed music for films such as '' Kong: Skull Island'', '' X-Men: First Class'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Puss in Boots'', '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Captain Phi ...
, wrote and produced music for the 2011
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
film ''
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.
The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'',
for which they were nominated for an
Annie Award for Best Music in a Feature Production.
She also provided the
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
of
Kanga in the film.
Her work with her husband writing songs for the 2013 Disney film ''
Frozen'',
[Disney's 'Frozen': Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel to voice animated tale](_blank)
Retrieved December 1, 2013 including "
Let It Go
"Let It Go" is a song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert L ...
", won her an
Academy Award for Best Original Song at the
86th Academy Awards and two
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
s at the
57th Annual Grammy Awards
The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time ...
.
Anderson-Lopez and her husband also wrote the music for the sequel, ''
Frozen II
''Frozen 2'' (stylized as ''Frozen II'') is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 58th animated film produced by the studi ...
''.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez again collaborated in writing songs and lyrics for the 2017
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
film
''Coco'', for which she won for an
Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production
The Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in a Feature Production (or Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production) is an Annie Award given annually to the best music in an animated feature film, t ...
. She also won an
Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "
Remember Me" at the
90th Academy Awards
The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2017, and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was held on March 4, ...
.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez sings Elsa’s part in “I Seek the Truth”, an outtake song of the ''
Frozen II
''Frozen 2'' (stylized as ''Frozen II'') is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 58th animated film produced by the studi ...
'' soundtrack, along with
Patti Murin
Patti Murin (born September 28, 1980) is an American actress, singer and dancer. On Broadway theatre, Broadway, she has originated the title role in ''Lysistrata Jones'' (2011) and Anna (Frozen), Princess Anna in ''Frozen (musical), Frozen'' (20 ...
singing Anna’s part. Murin had originated the role of Anna in the Broadway production of ''Frozen''.
Anderson-Lopez and her husband wrote and produced music for the 2021 series ''
WandaVision
''WandaVision'' is an American television miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. It is the first television series in ...
'', set in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
. The series features multiple title theme songs based on various classic American sitcoms, as well as the song "
Agatha All Along".
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
Annie Awards
Critics' Choice Movie Awards
The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writ ...
Golden Globe Awards
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
s
Primetime Emmy Awards
Tony Award
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 ce ...
s
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson-Lopez, Daniel
Actresses from Charlotte, North Carolina
American women songwriters
American musical theatre composers
Women musical theatre composers
American musical theatre lyricists
Songwriters from New York (state)
Annie Award winners
Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters
Broadway composers and lyricists
Grammy Award winners
People from Croton-on-Hudson, New York
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Living people
Walt Disney Animation Studios people
Williams College alumni
Charlotte Country Day School alumni
1972 births
People from Waxhaw, North Carolina
Animation composers
21st-century American women musicians