Carmen Cusack Bio, Age, Net Worth, Height, Spouse, Family

BIOGRAPHY OF CARMEN CUSACK | WHO IS CARMEN CUSACK

Carmen Cusack is an American musical theater actress and singer. She is known for playing Elphaba in the Chicago, North American Tour and Melbourne productions of the musical Wicked. She is also known for originating the role of Alice Murphy in the Broadway musical, Bright Star. She earned a Tony Award nomination and a 2016 Theater World Award for her Broadway debut.

After finishing college at the University of North Texas and earning a degree in performing arts, Carmen Cusack moved to England. She accepted the job on the MS Queen Elizabeth 2, which changed the course of her career. She played her breakthrough role as Christine Daae in The Phantom of the Opera. Immediately afterwards, she made her West End debut as Fantine in Les Miserables. She also appeared in the original West End productions of The Secret Garden and Personals.

On December 12, 2006, Carmen Cusack then traveled to America and joined the Chicago production of Wicked as a standby for the lead role of Elphaba. The producers were happy with her work and asked her to play the lead role in the series’ first national tour, which began in October 2007. She left the tour on November 2, 2008, and was replaced by Donna Vivino, who had been his Being ready. From June 10 to July 10, Carmen Cusack was in the Melbourne production in Australia, as a temporary standby for Elphaba: Amanda Harrison had taken a break from the series due to illness, and the standby, Jemma Rix, had been put in charge. of the main role. Cusack was with the company from June 10 to July 10, 2009.

Carmen Cusack played Nellie Forbush on the first South Pacific National Tour in 2009. For this role, she was nominated, for this role, for the Helen Hayes Award for Best Leading Actress in a Non-Resident Production. She starred as Miss Gardner in the Off-Broadway revival of Carrie – The Musical, which began performances at the Lucille Lortel Theater on January 31, 2012. Her play was limited, however, as it ran until April 8, 2012. In 2013, Carmen Cusack starred as Mother in Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s critically acclaimed production of Ragtime (musical).

From September 26 to November 4, 2012, Carmen Cusack starred as Dot/Mary in the Chicago Shakespeare Theater production of Sunday in the Park starring George. In early February 2015, she appeared in the production of the new First Wives Club musical as Annie. She made her Broadway debut on March 24, 2016 in Bright Star. For her performance, Carmen Cusack won a Theater World Award. She also received nominations for Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Musical, Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance, and Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in A musical. Carmen Cusack took over the role of

CARMEN CUSACK AGE | HOW OLD IS CARMEN CUSACK

Carmen Cusack was born in Denver, Colorado, USA on April 25, 1971. She turns 48 in 2019.

CARMEN CUSACK NET WORTH

Carmen Cusack has an approximate net worth of $6 million. She amassed her massive wealth through her talent.

CARMEN CUSACK HEIGHT

Carmen Cusack Height is not known.

CARMEN CUSACK FAMILY

Carmen Cusack has been in the limelight for quite some time now. She has, however, managed to keep her family a secret. There is no information about his parents or siblings.

DATING CARMEN CUSACK | CARMEN CUSACK HUSBAND | WHO IS CARMEN CUSACK MARRIED TO?

Carmen Cusack married her husband Paul Telfer on December 1, 2012. Carmen Cusack and Paul have been married for over 6 years and there is no romance or bad relationship report between the two.

CARMEN CUSACK AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

INTERVIEW WITH CARMEN CUSACK

Q: What was your process for choosing the songs for your 54 Below concert?

Carmen Cusack: It really depends on the situation, it depends on what I just released, but for this [concert], I really felt like I had to talk to my Bright Star fans and give them some of this music, but with that, I’m going to add some flavors of my own favorites that complement Bright Star’s style of music. I will also sing songs that were unfortunately cut from Bright Star. I’m so happy that we made the show that we made, but along the way, they just kept writing great songs, and a lot of these songs that I became very attached to, and they had to drop them – these little gems kept falling from our twirling Bright Star wooden house.

Q: Do you think your interpretation of songs changes depending on the setting? If you’re doing them in the context of a show where you’re responsible for a full line rather than in concert?

Carmen Cusack:Absolutely, it’s changing. But it’s going to be exciting because I can bring my own interpretation into the songs, and I’ve chosen songs that stand on their own without a direct line. It’s just really strong songs that give a story or hopefully that’s what the audience will understand: that I don’t necessarily need a script. I don’t really have a story theme on my show. I’m going to fill in a few blanks. People who keep wondering “Who is Carmen Cusack”, I really want to answer that question in different ways and take them on a very small journey. This is not my full journey as it would take way too long, but I want to fill in the blanks on a few questions that have been asked as part of this process.

Q: Does it sound like extra pressure when preparing for your gig? ‘Who is she?’ is a very broad question.

Carmen Cusack: No, it’s really very liberating for me to come here and feel that no one has high expectations of what they want me to sing. It gives me the freedom to sing the things I like to listen to and the things I like to sing. There are certain roles that I probably wouldn’t return to because my style, my musicianship, my musical sensibilities have evolved. But hopefully I’ll scratch that itch for viewers who want to hear some of the old roles I’ve played, like Christine Daae in Phantom of the Opera and Fantine in Les Mis. I will compile them into a more edited version of these songs.

Q: Do you think it’s any different to be asked to answer this question now than at 22?

Carmen Cusack: Yeah, and I’m so glad I waited until now – not that I was waiting to come to Broadway, but my journey was such that I took the job that I wanted to do, and where that he could have been, he was there. I’m not really an intensely ambitious person, but I like doing a good job and I like working with really good people, and that’s what matters most to me.

Q: With songs, do you usually feel drawn to the music or the lyrics first?

Carmen Cusack: The music has to hit me first. And then the lyrics. Sure. both are very, very important, absolutely crucial. But I just need to hear a good song, a good melody first, something that moves me in a way that I want to be moved. I also like to work on honest music, without trying to put on a particular face or style. I like honest music and I feel like Bright Star really did that for me.

Q: Do you also do songs that you wrote?

Carmen Cusack: I am. I’m going to do at least one or two of my own originals each show, and rotate them, because I have lots and lots of originals.

Q: What is your process for writing your own music? Do you start with a feeling or a visual image?

Carmen Cusack: It usually comes from feeling or a story that inspired me, and it mostly comes from remembering my stories growing up in my childhood. Sometimes it starts with a lyric, sometimes it starts with a melody, or just a lick, so I’ll get on my guitar and see if I can play that lick. If I can’t, then I record it on my little recording device, go to my band and say, “I have this idea and I can’t play it yet.”

Q: When did you start writing music?

Carmen Cusack: I started writing music when I was back in London, so that was almost 10 years ago.

Q: What inspired you to start writing?

Carmen Cusack: I watched the movie Cold Mountain – of course I had written before, I’ve been writing longer – but what brought me back to the idea of ​​writing was that I watched the movie Cold Mountain and all that folk and fiddle stuff just popped into my head. It took me back to my youth, and I started getting inspired again, that’s when I bought a guitar and started writing. Certainly not my first song, nor my second song, but I think my third song was incredibly folk – just very, very simple and an incredibly straightforward folk song. Not all of my stuff is folksy, a lot of my stuff is a bit more American, but I think that’s what really pushed me towards an album.

Q: As a kid, did you make up a lot of stories and things like that?

Carmen Cusack: Absolutely. In several interviews, I explained how connected I am to the role of Alice Murphy, and it is because my mother had me when I was 16 years old. She needed to further her education, so she and I moved in with my grandparents. in Florida, and she continued her education while my grandparents pretty much took care of me and raised me. She was there, but I didn’t see her much because she was going to school and working.

Q: What is your acting process? With a new project, where to start?

Carmen Cusack: I read the script first and decide if it speaks to me, and usually it speaks to me through the character more than anything. Then I like to figure out where that person is from, what they might look like, what their accent might be, and then go from there. I feel like voice and body, how one would behave in a character and how they would sound, is really important for me to develop who that person is.

Q: Are you looking for how they look like you or are you looking for really different characters that scare you?

Carmen Cusack: Those are the ones that are different and scare me, those are the ones that I should adopt. But like everyone, I think we tend to want to stay in our comfort zone. I’ve really tried to branch out and do a little more challenging stuff, and those are actually some of the most rewarding, like Dot/Marie from Sunday in the Park with George. It took me a while to figure out what I was going to do with this role. Then the light bulb turned on, literally overnight, and it was just magical enough.

Q: One of the main themes of the interviews is how a person develops as an artist while also developing as a person. Especially for actresses, because you have so many people talking about you all the time, like what’s your type and all that. How was this development process for you, especially since you were American and lived overseas?

Carmen Cusack: Luckily, I don’t think I ever gave anyone a chance to say what my type is, because I decided I wanted to change that pretty much immediately in my career. I had grown up in gospel music, but what started to get the ball rolling for me in music was classical singing. I received a scholarship to the University of North Texas for opera singing. This immediately lends itself to the role of Christine Daae in Phantom of the Opera. As the end of that contract approached, I was asked to audition for Cosette in Les Mis, which would be the next step with the style of that singing – the soprano, the ingenuous soprano.

Q: Where do you think that confidence, for lack of a better word, came from, to be like, “No, I’m not going to buy into it”?

Carmen Cusack: I was young and just from the States and I was probably a lot more arrogant than the Brits would have liked to embrace. They didn’t necessarily kiss me because of my confidence in what I knew I could do and being able to sing all these different styles. I think they didn’t know what to do with me, and there was a moment when they thought, “Who the hell does she think she is?” But whatever. I’m never here to be Miss Popular because I never have been, and that’s fine with me.

Q: How did you continue to navigate the industry, but also do what you wanted to do?

Carmen Cusack: Sometimes I don’t know you have much control over it, especially when you’re young and just starting out. You’re not really sailing there yet. You need to prove your worth and start navigating it. Initially, I just took the job. I wasn’t very picky. I wanted to get a CV; I wanted to show what I was talking about. But over the past decade, I’ve started to navigate and gain more control over the things I wanted to do. These days, if I don’t like something, I don’t audition for it. I didn’t even put it there in the atmosphere I’m interested in.

Q: Did you find that there was some kind of adaptation or learning process going from one culture to another?

Carmen Cusack: Absolutely. Going back to me being a bit American and a bit arrogant in England, I think for women in this industry at this time in London, if you walk into a situation feeling completely in control and confident, it could sometimes indicate that you are a bit of a diva. I’ve never been hard to work with, not that I know of, and I’ve never tried to make it a thing or fall that way. I started to realize that I was going to have to walk into a room and almost apologize for being there.

Q: And going through some of those years for years that are formative and you’re just trying to figure things out to begin with.

Carmen Cusack: When you have it all figured out, and you’re like, “Yes ma’am, yes ma’am. If that’s what I have to do, fine. It’s really good. I’ll just go there and what can I do for you? I also don’t know that it necessarily got me jobs. I just feel like what I’ve learned from both sides is that I have to start being myself. I don’t need to talk big to myself in the mirror. I just need to be comfortable in my own skin and know that what I’m going to bring to the table no one else can bring because no one else has stepped in my shoes and took what I’ve been through.

Q: Recently, having to do so much press and other obligations, have you had to figure out your limits for all of this? It often comes up in interviews that so many things like this are things that nobody teaches you.

Carmen Cusack: Exactly, and going back to your earlier question, ‘Would you have done things differently if you were in your twenties?’ Absolutely. I would have been a fucking idiot, because we all are [when we are in our twenties]. I still put my foot in my mouth to this day. The Lord knows how I was when I was younger, when I was in my twenties.

Q: Do you think there’s extra baggage in being a woman and trying to set boundaries or being taken seriously when you say something?

Carmen Cusack: I’m not worried about that. I’m not afraid of being taken seriously. They’ll take what they want to take from me and I don’t care. It’s like that. I’m so happy to be at this point in my life where I hope they leave having enjoyed their time with me, if that’s what it is. I hope people walk away thinking, yeah, she’s got something there, but I, to be honest, don’t care. At some point, you just have to let go, otherwise it will drive you crazy.

Q: Was there a formative moment that led you to this or just a life experience?

Carmen Cusack: No, it’s every day. It’s every day that we deal with this and we say to ourselves, “Do I care today?” I want to be a good and kind person. Whatever anyone gets out of it, however they misinterpret or interpret it, I can’t do anything about it, so why worry about it, really? So I don’t.

Q: Have you, to some extent, had this attitude since you were little?

Carmen Cusack: No, I went through a phase of insecurity. We all go through our insecurities, and even a few days, a few months, a few years, that we go through this up and down process of [asking] am I good enough, am I good enough? But, really, in the end it doesn’t matter. Either you’re going to land the job or you’re not, and you just have to keep trucking.

Q: What do you bring into the rehearsal room?

Carmen Cusack: I like to try to be as prepared as possible and then let the rest of it work its way with the rest of the cast, the director and the collaboration team. I think there’s a problem with being too rehearsed before you walk into a room with other artists, because then you don’t keep your heart and mind open to their work. I like to find that balance.

Q: Do you also think about this when running a business?

Carmen Cusack: I feel like I learned a lot as a leader. From the South Pacific in particular, when traveling with a cast and leading the show. When you travel with a cast, you get to know them on so many other levels, almost like a family unit. You learn how to be the captain, how to be the mom, how to be the friend. I feel like I’ve always had this facility in me. I don’t think it’s something you can necessarily learn, either you have it in you or you don’t.

Q: Are there any types of characteristics you look for in the roles you want to take on in the future?

Carmen Cusack: I want to venture further into the Southern Gothic concept. I would love, love, love, love to do a play with Tracy Letts. I would like to do some plays and then work on the music separately for a little while. But if the right [musical] comes along, there’s nothing better than when acting and music come together and get people moving. I think that’s probably the most powerful thing we can do.

Q: What do you think you can do to improve the way new work is developed?

Carmen Cusack: It’s very difficult to have a brand new story on the Broadway stage – and can I change that question to – I think what we need to do is start answering the question: why do audiences want he only go to shows he can read first, there’s been a movie on, there’s been a book on? We have to answer this question. I think there is so much more to learn with new materials and new projects. It just takes more open-mindedness.

Q: Speaking of audience engagement, I noticed that Bright Star has a number of female fans who think about the show in a very analytical and engaged way.

Q: Let’s talk about it.

Carmen Cusack:I was so blown away by the sophistication of these young people who had it on so many levels. You’re going to go to a show, you don’t know, and it’s bluegrass, hillbilly music, and then getting hit… that story is a human story. It touches your heart, it makes you feel something. Not all shows do. Other shows have other reasons to move or inspire you; this one hits you right in the heart. And why be cynical about it? I think you go into these things being a bit cynical, but then you leave and you think differently and you feel different, and you want to call your mom or your dad, and you just want to have that connection with that person that you haven’t logged in for a while.

Q: Do you think with Bright Star maybe people got a little confused, because you have strong female leadership (for lack of a better term) with a job, but there’s also a storyline of pregnancy, and people may see these two things as incompatible?

Carmen Cusack: Yeah, that’s life. It was really touching story of someone from the age of 16 to adulthood. I don’t think many shows can do that, there’s not enough time. Unless you do it in a very special way, in a sophisticated, intelligent way, you can’t always be successful. But I think that’s why it affected people. Because they were able to invest in a young girl and see her arc in a way that was very difficult to convey on stage in a few hours.

Q: Do you have a spiritual life and does it affect your work?

Carmen Cusack: I used to. I grew up very religious. I went to Bible College. My freshman year of college was Bible College because we had no money, so I participated in the gospel and made it to the national level and received several scholarships to Bible colleges. I cast demons out of me many times, and I think that was my red flag, it didn’t work, it didn’t count, you mustn’t go that route because you’re not going to be a missionary. But I feel that my love for my friends, my husband and my family is my spiritual outlet.

Q: Was it really weird going into a career where no one else in your family did anything like this?

Carmen Cusack: Well, my real dad is a musician, he does gigs. Literally two years before she got pregnant with me, my mom was encouraged at school that she was a great actress – she won her school’s best actress award – and I think she probably would have gotten into industry if she hadn’t chosen to have me, then she got married and had three more daughters. I think she probably would have tried to sue him. But no, no one in our family did, so here we go.

Q: I imagine it’s really hard to figure it out, because who do you ask for advice in this situation?

Carmen Cusack: Just ask yourself and be true to yourself and be true to your heart, and that’s the best I can say at this point. I was so young and thought I would never work again. It was my first job. I thought, “If I get out of here [that’s it].” And also I didn’t have an understudy – one was on vacation and the other had bronchitis.

Q: Do you have any industry mentors?

Carmen Cusack: Yes, I have two. Faith Prince and Dee Hoty. Faith Prince who I worked with at the First Wives Club, and she continued to coach me at a gala I was asked to do at the Old Globe not too long ago. She actually runs workshops for people who organize cabarets and concerts. I asked him for advice and we would do a little Skype session together, and I would still call him all the time asking for his advice.

Q: Do you think it’s important to have people like that?

Carmen Cusack: He is. More than anything, it’s important to know that sometimes you need to ask for help. It’s been a learning curve for me because for so long I haven’t asked for help. I left home at a very young age, went to England and became very independent almost because of the fault that I would not ask for help, and I learned that it is so important.

Q: What do you think the theater industry can do to make things better for the women who work there?

Carmen Cusack: Pay better. Absolutely. I think they expect women to work harder, because women mostly do. We have to do double duty in many ways to prove ourselves. By the time you find yourself in a rehearsal situation, it’s usually the women who know what they’re doing – they know their lines, they know everything – and the men have to catch up.