Idina Menzel is a Tony Award-winning, powerhouse multi-hyphenate: a singer, an actress in film and TV, a songwriter, a Broadway star, and a philanthropist. Menzel was among the recipients of the 2023 National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government, which was presented by President Joe Biden.
She rose to fame for her role as ‘Maureen’ in the popular Broadway musical Rent, and her career took off when she won a Tony Award for her role as ‘Elphaba,’ the Wicked Witch of the West, in the smash musical Wicked. Her voice can be heard as ‘Elsa’ in Disney’s Oscar® winning Frozen, the second highest grossing animated films of all time, with more than $1.2 billion in worldwide box office revenue. The film’s song “Let It Go”, voiced by Menzel, became an instant international phenomenon, winning the Oscar® for Best Original Song – where Menzel performed it at the ceremony – and the Grammy® Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The track reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Menzel the first artist with both a Billboard Top 10 hit and a Tony Award for acting. Menzel reprised her leading role as ‘Elsa’ in the highly anticipated release of Disney’s Frozen 2 in 2019, which broke records to become the highest grossing animated movie of all time.
In January 2017, Menzel was seen in Lifetime’s remake of Beaches, in which she portrays the role of CC, made famous by Bette Midler. Her other film credits include Disney’s Enchanted, opposite Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey and its sequel Enchanted 2: Disenchanted; Netflix’s You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah alongside Adam Sandler; Chris Columbus’ film version of Rent and Robert Towne’s Ask the Dust, opposite Salma Hayek and Colin Farrell. She also joined Adam Sandler in the Safdie Brothers’ critically acclaimed and Film Independent Spirit Award-winning A24 film Uncut Gems. Menzel was also seen in Amazon Studios’ 2021 smash hit Cinderella, for which she wrote and sang the song “Dream Girl,” which was shortlisted for the Academy Awards’ Best Song category. On television, Menzel appeared in the recurring role of Shelby Corcoran, Rachel’s biological mother, on Fox’s Glee.
In late 2022 Menzel released the personal Disney+ documentary Which Way to the Stage?, which followed her on a national tour over the course of 16 shows as she juggled the challenges of being a working mom and a grueling schedule, all while preparing to finally realize her lifelong dream of headlining Madison Square Garden.
In addition to her work on stage in Rent and Wicked, Menzel was previously seen on Broadway in the original production If/Then, for which she earned her third Tony nomination. If/Then played at the Richard Rodgers Theatre through March 2015, which was followed by a nationwide tour with Menzel and several cast members. Menzel also appeared as Sheila in the Encores! production of Hair and starred as Amneris in Broadway's Aida. In London, she premiered the Broadway hit Wicked in the West End and received the Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She also starred in Michael John LaChiusa's musical, See What I Wanna See, directed by Ted Sperling at The Public Theater. Other Off-Broadway credits include the pre-Broadway production of Rent and The Vagina Monologues. Menzel also starred in the West Coast premiere of Joshua Harmon’s Skintight in 2019; the show was a follow up to the off-Broadway performance that opened to rave reviews at Roundabout Theatre Company.
In 2025, Menzel made her return to Broadway to star in Redwood, which she co-conceived with Tina Landau. In a true full circle moment, the show played the Nederlander Theatre, where Menzel made her Broadway debut in Rent. She received a Distinguished Performance Award from the 2025 Drama League Awards for her performance. She was also honored alongside Tina by New Dramatists for both their work on the show, but also as two galvanizing artists who have created some of the most memorable productions and performances in theatre history.
A skillful songwriter, Menzel’s prolific recording career includes multiple cast albums and the solo albums: Still I Can’t Be Still, Here, I Stand and idina, which landed in the Top 30 on Billboard’s Top 200 charts upon its release in 2016. She’s released 2 holiday-themed albums, Holiday Wishes, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Holiday Albums chart and gave Menzel a Top 10 album on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and its 2019 follow-up, Christmas: A Season of Love featuring duets with Ariana
Grande, Billy Porter, Josh Gad and Idina’s husband, Aaron Lohr. Menzel received the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at Billboard’s annual Women in Music event in 2014 and performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLIX.
In 2023, Menzel released her electrifying dance project Drama Queen via BMG. The project is a departure from what she’s released in the past, as Menzel showcases her powerhouse vocals through disco-infused beats and soaring anthems. As American Songwriter reported, “On Drama Queen, Menzel sings like the great dance and disco diva vocalists of the ’70s and ’80s. It’s hard not to conjure images of Cher or even Celine Dion. There is power and confidence in the music, born from real achievement and know-how.” For Drama Queen, Idina worked with award-winning collaborators including Nile Rodgers (Chic, Diana Ross, Beyonce), Justin Tranter (Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez), Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters), Sir Nolan (Shawn Mendes, Carly Rae Jepsen), Jim Eliot (Elie Goulding, Kylie Minogue) and more.
Menzel is consistently lauded for her strong yet emotional live performances. Accompanied by world-renowned symphony orchestras, Menzel has played to sold-out audiences and demonstrated why she is one of the great performers of her time. The Denver Post dubbed her “The Streisand of her generation,” while The New York Times praised Menzel as “an entertainer with a phenomenal voice… Diana Ross with ten times the stamina and lung power.” In March 2012, Menzel released a CD and DVD entitled Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony, a live concert with an orchestra led by legendary composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch, filmed at The Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall in Toronto, Canada. The concert also aired nationally on PBS stations. Her highly successful international concert tour has also included sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall & Radio City Music Hall, and a New Year’s Eve 2012 performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Outside of music, stage, and screen, Menzel has also authored two books and released a clothing line. In 2022, she released a children’s picture book alongside her sister, Cara Mentzel, called “Loud Mouse,” which centers around self-acceptance and being true to yourself. The sisters also released a sequel to the book called “Proud Mouse” in 2023, both via Disney Publishing Worldwide. In 2022 Menzel launched her QVC line, Encore, which was designed with the belief that “every woman deserves her own Encore.”
Philanthropy is also important to Menzel, who co-founded the A BroaderWay Foundation in 2010. The organization is dedicated to offering girls from underserved communities an outlet for self-expression and creativity through arts-centered programs. The emphasis is on building self-esteem, developing leadership qualities and striving for personal and social achievement. In 2014, Menzel was recognized as one of Variety’s Power of Women honorees for her work with the organization.
