Karen Olivo
Encyclopedia
Karen Olivo is a stage
and television
actress, who is known for originating the role of Vanessa in the Tony Award
–winning musical In the Heights both on
and off Broadway. She won her Tony Award
for her performance as Anita (2009–2010) in the revival of West Side Story. She is the first and only actor to win a Tony for a performance in West Side Story.
, Puerto Rican
, Native American
, and Chinese
descent. She was born in New York City and raised in Bartow, Florida
. She attended the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts
in nearby Lakeland, Florida
, and later the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music. Olivo is married to Matt Caplan, who is currently in the production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
.
for her performance as Anita in the Broadway
revival of West Side Story. She was also nominated for both a Drama Desk
and an Outer Critic's Circle Award for her critically acclaimed performance as Anita. She earned her second Astaire Award nomination for Best Female Dancer for her performance in West Side Story
, after previously winning the same award in 2008 for her performance in In the Heights. She was contracted with West Side Story at the Palace through 2010. During the May 8, 2010 matinee performance of West Side Story, Olivo broke her foot. Anita standby Natalie Cortez performed the role until the show's closure. Olivo took part in the world premiere of "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark" at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre
. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage
, the play "draws upon the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood."
, playing "hot shot lawyer" Cassie Reynolds hired by Kathy Bates' character.
Olivo also appeared as Isabelle Perez, a woman that was unknowingly sterilized in a Law and Order episode: Season 16, episode 6, Birthright.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actress, who is known for originating the role of Vanessa in the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
–winning musical In the Heights both on
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and off Broadway. She won her Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for her performance as Anita (2009–2010) in the revival of West Side Story. She is the first and only actor to win a Tony for a performance in West Side Story.
Biography
Olivo is of DominicanDominican people
Dominicans are people inhabiting or originating from Dominican Republic. Most Dominicans live in Dominican Republic, although there is also a large Dominican diaspora, especially in the United States, Puerto Rico and Spain...
, Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, and Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
descent. She was born in New York City and raised in Bartow, Florida
Bartow, Florida
Bartow is the county seat of Polk County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1851 as Fort Blount, the city was renamed in honor of Francis S. Bartow the first brigade commander to die in combat during the American Civil War. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2000 Census, the city had a...
. She attended the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts
Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts
The Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts was founded in Lakeland, Florida, United States in 1989 and named after community member and art patron Lois Cowles Harrison. It is a Magnet school that draws its student population from communities throughout Polk County...
in nearby Lakeland, Florida
Lakeland, Florida
Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, located approximately midway between Tampa and Orlando along Interstate 4. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the city had a population of 94,406...
, and later the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music. Olivo is married to Matt Caplan, who is currently in the production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a rock musical with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The musical is based on the Spider-Man comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the 2002...
.
Theatre
In 2009, Olivo received her first Tony AwardTony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for her performance as Anita in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
revival of West Side Story. She was also nominated for both a Drama Desk
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
and an Outer Critic's Circle Award for her critically acclaimed performance as Anita. She earned her second Astaire Award nomination for Best Female Dancer for her performance in West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
, after previously winning the same award in 2008 for her performance in In the Heights. She was contracted with West Side Story at the Palace through 2010. During the May 8, 2010 matinee performance of West Side Story, Olivo broke her foot. Anita standby Natalie Cortez performed the role until the show's closure. Olivo took part in the world premiere of "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark" at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...
. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage
Lynn Nottage
Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African Americans and women. She was born in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius...
, the play "draws upon the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood."
Television
Olivo had a recurring role in The Good Wife on CBS. She played fabulously wealthy law student Giada Cabrini, a potential love interest of firm partner Will Gardner (Josh Charles). Olivo is currently a series regular in the second season of NBC's Harry's LawHarry's Law
Harry's Law is an American legal comedy-drama television series created by David E. Kelley. which premiered on January 17, 2011.On May 12, 2011, NBC renewed the show for a second season, which premiered Wednesday September 21, 2011...
, playing "hot shot lawyer" Cassie Reynolds hired by Kathy Bates' character.
Olivo also appeared as Isabelle Perez, a woman that was unknowingly sterilized in a Law and Order episode: Season 16, episode 6, Birthright.
Theatre credits
| Show | Character | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent Rent (musical) Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème... |
Mimi | 1998 | |
| Brooklyn The Musical Brooklyn (musical) Brooklyn the Musical is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson.-Synopsis:Using the play within a play structure, Brooklyn focuses on a group of five ragtag homeless musicians known as the City Weeds... |
Faith | 2004 | |
| Miracle Brothers (Off Broadway) | Jeca | 2005 | |
| In The Heights (Off Broadway) | Vanessa | 2007 | |
| Hair Hair (musical) Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement... (40th Anniversary Concert) |
Sheila | 2007 | |
| In The Heights In the Heights In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights.... (Broadway) |
Vanessa | 2008 | Astaire Award |
| West Side Story West Side Story West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins... (Revival) |
Anita | 2009 | Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Drama Desk Award Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category... nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets... , Astaire Award nomination |
| By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Off Broadway) | Anna Mae/ Afua Assata Ejobo | 2011 |