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

understudy In theatre, 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 ap ...

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 Stre ...

shows. She is best known for appearing as Miss Jenn in the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

musical mockumentary series '' High School Musical: The Musical: The Series'' (2019-2023), and for appearing on stage as

Portia Portia may refer to: Biology * ''Portia'' (spider), a genus of jumping spiders *Portia tree, a plant native to Polynesia *''Anaea troglodyta'' or Portia, a brush-footed butterfly Other uses *Portia (given name), the history and usage of the give ...

in the original Broadway cast of ''

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 ...

'', for which she was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award is generally given to the album's producers, principal vocalist(s), and the composer and lyricist if they have written a new score which comprises 51% or more ...

in 2016.

Career

Reinders' Broadway debut was in ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (also simply known as ''Tom Sawyer'') is a novel by Mark Twain published on June 9, 1876, about a boy, Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1830s-1840s in the town of St. Petersbu ...

'' 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 1986 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 {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

'' 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, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while ...

Good Vibrations "Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock music, rock band the Beach Boys, produced and composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. Released as a single on October 10, 1966, it achieved immediate critical and commercial success, ...

''. 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'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris ...

'', alongside

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

Elphaba Elphaba Thropp () is the protagonist of Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'', the novel's musical theatre adaptation, and the musical's two-part film adaptation, '' Wicked'' (2024) and '' ...

; 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 st ...

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 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 in '' Wicked'', Doralee Rhodes in '' 9 to 5: The Musical'', and her Tony Award– ...

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 television 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 g ...

. TV personality

Nancy Grace Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal pundit, commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace (TV program), Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs (news format), current affairs show ...

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 An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

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 Constantine James Maroulis (; born September 17, 1975) is an American actor and rock singer. He was the sixth-place finalist on the fourth season of the reality television series ''American Idol'', and received a nomination for the Tony Award f ...

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 aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 28, 2006, to April 14, 2010. It is based on the Colombian telenovela ''Yo soy Betty, la fea' ...

''. Reinders starred as a regular character, "Paula Morgan", on the Lifetime series ''

Sherri Sherri may refer to: *Sherri (name) * ''Sherri'' (2009 TV series), an American sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd * ''Sherri'' (talk show), a syndicated daytime show hosted by Sherri Shepherd that premiered in 2022 See also * Shari (disambiguation) * ...

'' starring former ''

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

'' co-host

Sherri Shepherd Sherri Evonne Shepherd (born April 22, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, author, podcaster, television presenter and talk show host. She currently hosts the daily syndicated daytime talk show, '' Sherri''. From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was ...

. 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, New York, U.S. Opened in 19 ...

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 Mohegan Sun is a large casino and entertainment complex located on 240 acres (97 ha) of the Mohegan Indian Reservation in Uncasville, Connecticut, along the banks of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is owned and operated by the fe ...

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, and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his tee ...

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 Saycon Sengbloh (born October 23, 1977) is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and an Obie Award for Outstan ...

. 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 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 in the Broadway product ...

, Arielle Jacobs, and

Tracie Thoms Tracie Thoms is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles in ''Rent'', ''Cold Case'', '' The Devil Wears Prada'', ''Death Proof'', the Fox television series '' Wonderfalls''; as of 2018 she has been a recurring cast member of th ...

. 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 ''

'', 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 A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at ext ...

''. It was announced on October 8, 2018, that Reinders would assume the role of

Cynthia Weil Cynthia Weil (October 18, 1940 – June 1, 2023) was an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Weil and Mann were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 2011, they jointly received the ...

in the Broadway production of '' Beautiful: The Carole King Musical'', replacing

Kara Lindsay Kara Lynn Massey (born February 16, 1985), known professionally as Kara Lindsay, is an American stage actress and singer, best known for her roles as Katherine Plumber in ''Newsies'' (2012) and Glinda in ''Wicked'' (2014, 2016, 2018, 2019). Edu ...

on October 19. As of 2019, she has been portraying Miss Jenn in the

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

Personal life

Reinders was born on December 10, 1980, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. 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 singers 21st-century American actresses