Lisa O'Hare is an English actress who has played Eliza Doolittle in ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'' and the title character of ''

Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...

'' in the West End and UK stage. She more recently has appeared in several prime-time American television shows on TNT, ABC and NBC. She most recently starred on Broadway in the musical, '' A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder''.

Career

O'Hare was trained as a ballet dancer, and performed in dance-oriented shows such as ''Alice and the Others'' at

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

and ''Defile'' at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

. Moving to musical theatre, O'Hare joined the original London production of ''Mary Poppins'' as the understudy for the original

Laura Michelle Kelly Laura Michelle Kelly (born 4 March 1981) is an English actress and singer, best known for originating the roles of Mary Poppins in ''Mary Poppins'' in the West End, for which she received the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and S ...

as well as a member of the original ensemble in December 2004. She left the production in July 2005. From 28 September 2005 at the Palace Theatre in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, O'Hare joined the National UK Tour of Cameron Mackintosh's production of ''My Fair Lady'' as the alternate Eliza Doolittle, sharing the role with

Amy Nuttall Amy Abigail Nuttall (born 7 June 1982) is an English actress and singer known for playing Chloe Atkinson in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from 2000 until 2005, and housemaid Ethel Parks in ITV period drama ''Downton Abbey''. Early life Nut ...

until the UK tour ended on 12 August 2006 at the Wales Millennium Centre in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. On 6 November 2006, O'Hare returned to the London production of ''Mary Poppins'' assuming the title role on a full-time basis. She replaced

Scarlett Strallen Scarlett Aimee Vaigncourt-Strallen (born 3 July 1982) is an English stage actress, best known for her work in musical theatre productions in the West End and on Broadway. She has received two Olivier Award nominations, in 2006 for her portray ...

, making her the third actress to hold the West End title role. Her last performance with the London Company on the show was on 19 May 2007. In 2007, O'Hare reprised her role as Eliza Doolittle in the national US tour of ''My Fair Lady'' alongside Christopher Cazenove as Henry Higgins, who had starred with her in the National UK Tour. The US tour opened on 12 September 2007 in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and closed on 22 June 2008 in Tempe, Arizona.US Tour information
at MyFairLadyTheMusical.com For her portrayal of Eliza Doolittle in the States, O'Hare was nominated for the 2008 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Non-Resident Production and was nominated and won the 26th Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance. Since returning to the UK, O'Hare starred as the title role in '' Gigi'' from 6 August to 13 September 2008 at

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

Open Air Theatre Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is an open-air theatre in Regent's Park in central London. The theatre Established in 1932, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is one of the largest theatres in London (1,256 seats) and is situated in Queen Mary� ...

. On 6 July 2008, O'Hare and two other actresses who had portrayed Mary Poppins on stage (

and

Caroline Sheen Caroline Sheen is a Welsh actress who has played leading roles on stage in the West End alongside TV and film appearances. She won a Helen Hayes award for playing the role of Mary Poppins on the National Tour of America. Background Born and ...

) performed the song "Practically Perfect" for a special concert of George Stiles and

Anthony Drewe Anthony Drewe is a British lyricist and book writer for Broadway and West End musicals. He is best known for his collaborations with George Stiles. Education He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School between 1974–1980. He read Zoology at ...

's songs, "A Spoonful of Stiles and Drewe", at

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

. This version was released on CD in December 2008. O'Hare most recently reprised her critically acclaimed role as

in the National UK tour of ''Mary Poppins''. She assumed the role on 27 October 2008 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, replacing

, and continued through

and

until the tour's closure on 18 April 2009. In April 2012 she returned to the role in the Perth, Australia season of the play along with Matt Lee playing the role of Bert. Lisa O'Hare made her American television debut in 2010, guest-starring in the sixth season of TNT's award-winning show ''

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a c ...

'' playing Jenny in "Last Woman Standing". Shortly afterward, O'Hare guest-starred as Kitty Canary in ABC's '' Castle'' – "A Deadly Affair". As the premiere episode in ''Castles third season, O'Hare was able to showcase her dancing talents as the owner and performer of a burlesque bar to millions of dedicated viewers. In October 2010, O'Hare guest-starred in J.J Abrams action-thriller series ''Undercovers'' on NBC. She played Marie Murphy, a double-crossing wife of Irish descent in "Jailbreak". In 2011, she played

Sally Bowles Sally Bowles () is a fictional character created by English-American novelist Christopher Isherwood and based upon 19-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross. The character debuted in Isherwood's 1937 novella ''Sally Bowles'' published by Hogarth Press ...

in ''Cabaret'' for the Reprise Theatre Company at the Freud Playhouse. She won the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Lead Performance. She originated the role of Sibella Hallward in the Broadway musical, '' A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder'', and was followed by

. In 2015, O'Hare once again picked up her carpet bag and reprised the role of Mary Poppins in the Mary Poppins Musical in Zurich, Switzerland. After returning from Europe, Lisa once again reprised another one of her favorite roles, playing Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady at Chicago's Lyric Opera starring opposite Richard E. Grant. Lisa received enormous praise for her portrayal. In 2018, she was cast as Georgia Goodwin on NBC's hit show, '' New Amsterdam'', starring opposite Ryan Eggold. O'Hare resides in NYC and is a member of SAG/AFTRA and Actors Equity.

Personal life

She is from Morecambe. She attended the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

from age 11 to 16.

Filmography

References

External links

My Fair Lady US Tour Article
at BroadwayWorld.com

at Playbill.com
O'Hare profile @ Official Mary Poppins website

Article announcing Lisa taking over title role in West End's Mary Poppins.

Announcement of Lisa leaving Mary Poppins for My Fair Lady.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohare, Lisa Living people American musical theatre actresses American television actresses English emigrants to the United States English musical theatre actresses People from Morecambe 21st-century English actresses 21st-century American actresses Year of birth missing (living people)