Eden Espinosa

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Biography

Recent Role:
Lisa, Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, Teela on Robot Chicken
Gender:
Female
Born:
2-2-1978
Birthplace:
Anaheim, California
Eden Espinosa was born on February 2, 1978 to second-generation Mexican –Americans. She is fluent in both Spanish and English. Eden has been interested in perusing a career in theatre since birth. She began singing at the age of three, performing at five, and recording at ten. She says when she was little; she would force her parents and their friends to watch her perform in skits she made up with her brother, Eddie. Her father was a preacher, she would sing in his church as a child, and Eden is still religious.

She attended Canyon High School and played Maria in the school’s

… More production of West Side Story.



When she was 17, Eden got her first job at a Disney theme park – a Christmas Caroler in the parade Christmas Fantasy. Her only vocal training before this was a few lessons in high school. Instead of going to college, Eden started working at several southern California theme parks during her college years. Her Disney fans will remember her best as Pocahontas and the Little Mermaid. She also worked as an ensemble member in a stunt and dance show, Spiderman Rocks, at the Universal Studios theme park. She also assisted several friends perusing musical careers by singing background vocals for them.



The casting director of BYLN saw Eden perform at a theme park and introduced her to the directors John McDaniel and Jeff Calhoun. Because she was so involved with the creation of the show, Eden has a very strong emotional attachment to it; feeling that she has grown along with it. She deeply identifies with her character, Brooklyn, who was somewhat written after her. Most of the songs were written especially for her soaring voice and her favorite costume to wear is her shopping bag outfit from the show’s finale. The show opened at the Denver Civic Theatre in Colorado and went to Broadway for a limited run (October 24, 2004 to June 26, 2005). Before it opened, Eden came to New York City for the first time, working as both a restaurant hostess and a salesgirl at the Gap to support herself. She says that in spite of the fact that she is better known for her roles in Wicked, Eden wants people to primarily associate her with BKLYN. She preformed several songs from the song for the TV movie Broadway on Broadway.



In between the BKLYN workshops and it going to Broadway, Eden made her Broadway debut as the understudy for Nessarose and Elphaba in Wicked. She took over the role of Elphaba for an entire month while Idina Menzel was filming the movie Ask The Dust. She says that Wicked prepared her for intense 8-shows a week schedule, Elphaba was a more physically challenging role than Brooklyn, and she is really happy she got do that before creating the role of Brooklyn for Broadway. Over the summer after BKLYN closed, Stephanie Block was injured on the Wicked tour, and Eden took over for the San Francisco stop.



In the summer of 2005, Eden preformed at the 2005 Broadway Cabaret Festival. She had previously preformed at Joe’s Pub Cabaret in 2003.



In January of 2006, Eden returned to Wicked and took over the role of Elphaba. She left the show on October 8, 2006. Since leaving, Eden has preformed in several benefit concerts. On February 10, 2007, Eden opened the Los Angeles production of Wicked along with her former costar, Megan Hilty. She is currently living in Los Angeles and playing Elphaba at the Pantages Theater.

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    My favorite Elphaba and incredibly nice too hide show

    Eden Espinosa replaced Idina Menzel as my favorite actress on 3/3/2006, when I saw Wicked on Broadway. I had been a die-hard Idina fan for 7 solid months. When I first heard her sing "The Wizard and I" I was blown away by how she managed to almost harmonize the Idina version to work for her, but still sound incredible. As the show went on and on, so did my happiness and appreciation for the amazing actress behind all the green makeup. Her "Defying Gravity" is my favorite and I recently spent 20 minutes trying to teach myself to sing it the way she does. I waited outside in the cold for an hour and a half to meet her and she was really sweet. She signed all of my sister and mine many Wicked items and was gracious in receiving our complements about how well she had done.

    I googled her as soon as I got home and the more and more I learned about her and heard her voice, the more I loved her. Eden is leaving Wicked in October - what are you waiting for? Go buy tickets!

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    she_is_wicked Added Jun 26, 2006 All my reviews
  •  
    10 Perfect
    It isn't easy being green! hide show

    Eden Espinosa is such a talented actress. I saw her as Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked with my friend. She has such an astounding voice. I hope she makes it big and is able to continue as a fantastic actress.

    P.S. After I saw Wicked, we got to go back stage and meet her and go in her dressing room. It was totally WICKED

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    alaybanana16 Added Jun 15, 2006 All my reviews
  •  
    10 Perfect
    Talent at its finest - Eden is incredible hide show

    The first time I saw Eden preform was in Wicked this March. I am a massive Idina Menzel fan and after Shoshona (as good as she was) wasnt close to being as good . . . I wasnt expecting much from the third Elphaba.

    I was 100% wrong. Yes, Eden is not as good as Idina, but she is pretty close! She twisted the notes of the songs and rewrote them to make them sound better for her own voice - but managed to keep the harmonies alive and keep the power and strentgh of the character - I'd say even kicking it to a whole new level. She's also funny - she was imitating her costar, Megan Hitley, as much as possible and sounding exacting like her. Her comedic timing is genius.

    After loving her here, I bought the CD to Eden's Broadway Debut - BKLYN the Musical, which is currently not showing anywhere (*grumble*). She is amazing on there too, she has an incredible volume range and is just a powerhouse

    So go, watch her in Wicked! She's leaving in October and I really hope to see her again before that

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    schyzofroggy Added May 1, 2006 All my reviews
 

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