Idina Menzel

Idina Menzel married actor Taye Diggs on January 11, 2013. The couple had a son, Walker Nathaniel Diggs, on September 2, 2009. Idina and Taye got divorced on December 3, 2014.

She is in a relationship with actor Aaron and the two got engaged on September 23, 2016.

Idina Menzel was born as Idina Kim Mentzel in Syosset hamlet of New York on 30 May 1971. She grew up in Syosset and went to Syosset High School. She graduated from ‘Tisch School of the Arts’ affiliated to New York University, receiving a BFA degree with a major in Drama.

Following the split-up of her parents, Idina was who 15 then, began performing as a Bat Mitzvah and wedding songstress to make ends meet as well as to fund her university education. Eventually, she dropped the‘t’ in her surname, Mentzel, in order to make the pronunciation of her name easier.

Idina Menzel debuted at Broadway by successfully auditioning for the role of Maureen Johnson in the musical theater ‘Rent’ in 1995. She earned a Tony Award nomination for her role in ‘Rent’ and appeared as Maureen Johnson for the last time on 1st July, 1997.

Riding on the popularity of the Broadway musical, Menzel launched her debut album ‘Still I Can’t Be Still’ which was promoted by Hollywood Records. She was also part of the original cast of ‘Summer of ‘42’, ‘Hair’ and ‘Aida’.

She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for depicting Kate in the off-Broadway musical theater ‘The Wild Party’. She has also performed in numerous other off-Broadway productions, notable amongst them being ‘The Vagina Monologues’ and ‘See What I Wanna See’.

Idina co-starred with actress-cum singer, Kristin Chenworth, in the theatrical adaptation of ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’—a novel penned by Gregory Maguire. She won the 2004 Tony Award in the category ‘Best Leading Actress in a Musical’ for enacting Elphaba, the protagonist of ‘Wicked’.

Menzel repeated her act as Elphaba when ‘Wicked’ was staged at Apollo Victoria Theater in the West End area of London in 2006. Idina was the most expensive female performer for the entire 3 months the show ran on West End, amassing a cool $30,000 every week.

Idina gave her debut public performance as singer at the ‘Lilith Fair’ concert in 1998. She recurrently performs in New York City during her nationwide tours. Her first solo record ‘Still, I Can’t Be Still’ was released in 1998 by Hollywood Records.

She released her second record, ‘Here’, independently in 2004 which was endorsed by Zel Records. She featured on the soundtracks of ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Beowulf’, released in 2005 and 2007 respectively. She also sang a duet “What If’ with Rhydian Roberts, the Welsh baritone songster.

Idina unveiled another solo album, ‘I Stand’, her third record, in 2008. The album featured several new tracks and opened at number 58 on Billboard 200 and was her debut album to rank on the chart. Majority of the songs included in the album were composed by her.

On 1 April 2008, Menzel embarked on a musical tour to promote ‘I Stand’ and the first four stops were complete sellouts. She sang the title track from the album during Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November 2008.

On 19 July 2010, Idina crooned “What I Did for Love” and “Defying Gravity” in a Broadway event held in White House where President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama were present. Earlier in 2010, she had embarked on a concert trip titled ‘Barefoot at the Symphony Tour’.