Andrea Burns

Andréa Burns (born February 21, 1971) is an American Drama Desk Award-winning actress and singer, best known for her portrayal of the saucy hairdresser "Daniela" in Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning musical "In The Heights," as "Carmen" in Douglas Carter Beane's "The Nance" alongside Nathan Lane, and "Mrs. Spamboni" in The Electric Company (2009 TV series).

She is currently starring on Broadway in Gloria Estefan's biographical musical "On Your Feet!"

Early life

Andréa was born in Miami Beach, Florida to a Jewish father and a Venezuelan mother. She has described herself as "...a Venezuelan Jewess from Miami who grew up loving Broadway." She spent many summers training at the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts and is a graduate of Miami's New World School of the Arts.

Career

Burns began her career touring the opera houses of Europe as Maria in West Side Story when she was 18 years old. She has appeared on Broadway as "Belle" in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, as "Vicki Nichols" in The Full Monty, as Googie Gomez in The Ritz and has sung concerts at Carnegie Hall. Andréa was in the original company of Jason Robert Brown’s critically acclaimed Songs for a New World and since has become one of the foremost interpreters of his work. Andréa portrayed Lucille Frank in the national tour of Jason Robert Brown's Parade, directed by Harold Prince, for which she received a Touring Broadway Awards nomination for Best Actress. She was also selected by Stephen Sondheim to create the role of Celeste in Saturday Night at Second Stage Theatre.