Ruthie Henshall
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Valentine Ruth Henshall (born March 7, 1967), known as Ruthie Henshall, is a British singer, dancer and actress.
She was born in Bromley, London, England. Henshall's early ambition was to be a ballet dancer, but she lacked the necessary physique. At the age of 19, after studying at the Laine Theatre Arts drama school in Epsom, she earned her first professional credit in the Cascade Review at the West Cliff Theatre in Clacton-on-Sea before taking part in a provincial production of A Chorus Line. She made her mark in London's West End in the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing in Cats, Miss Saigon (graduating from the chorus to the second female lead), and Les Misérables as Fantine. Her first starring role came in the 1993 trans-Atlantic transfer of the Broadway smash Crazy for You, with a score by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, opening at the Prince Edward Theatre. Her performance earned her the first of four Olivier Award nominations.
In 1994, Henshall starred in She Loves Me, winning the Olivier as Best Actress in a Musical. That same year, she performed a concert of Gershwin songs at London's Royal Festival Hall. She recreated her role of Fantine for the 10th Anniversary Concert performance of Les Miz at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1995. In 1996, she took on the role of Nancy in producer Cameron Mackintosh's hit revival of Oliver! at the famed London Palladium. From 1997-1998, Henshall starred as Roxie Hart in the West End revival of Chicago.
Henshall was cast in the title role of the stage musical adaptation of the Francis Ford Coppola film Peggy Sue Got Married, which opened in London in August 2001 to mixed reviews. Although it closed after a run of just eight weeks, she was once again nominated for an Olivier for her performance.
Henshall has appeared at the Chichester Festival, has toured Britain in the revue The Magnificent Musicals, and has performed in Hey, Mr. Producer, a celebration of the works of Cameron Mackintosh. Her solo recordings include The Ruthie Henshall Album, Pilgrim, and Love Is Here to Stay, a collection of Gershwin tunes. Her latest West End performance was playing Marian Halcombe in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman In White, from July 2005
Henshall's Broadway credits include Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together and The Vagina Monologues. Her first feature film, a musical version of A Christmas Carol with Kelsey Grammer, aired on NBC in the United States in November 2004 and was released as a commercial attraction to theaters in the UK and Europe. She appeared in the four-part BBC Television series The Sound of Musicals in January 2006.
Early in 2006, a Welsh portraitist named Roger P. Thomas said Henshall had given permission for him to paint her likeness, so that prints could be sold to raise £60,000 for charity.
[edit] Personal life
Henshall dated Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex for two years, before becoming engaged to actor John Gordon Sinclair. After she took the role of Velma Kelly in Chicago on Broadway, New York, they broke up
Henshall admits then going through a process of excess drinking and considering suicide, but resolved her intimacy issues within relationships by under going conselling with the Hoffman Institute [1]
She then met Tim Howar, theatre actor and lead singer of the band Van Tramp; and her male co-star lead in the West End production of "Peggy Sue Got Married". The couple married in September 2004, live close to her parents on the Essex/Suffolk borders, and have two children
