Saycon Sengbloh
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Saycon A. Sengbloh (born October 23, 1977) is an American actress and singer. Her influences include the Jackson 5, Tina Turner, and Prince.
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[edit] History
Sengbloh grew up in Atlanta and began singing publicly in middle school. She attended Tri-Cities High School and became involved with their magnet program for the Visual and Performing Arts. Throughout high school, she performed in many school plays and talents shows and was subsequently named "Visual and Performing Arts Student of the Year" prior to graduating.
Sengbloh attended Agnes Scott College, majoring in Spanish and Theatre/Voice. During this time, she began singing in the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta. Sengbloh began to blossom using the teachings of her mentor there, Freddie Hendricks. Sengbloh performed in many local theatre groups such as The Fox Theatre, 7-Stages Theatre, Jomandi Productions, and the Alliance Theatre Company.
[edit] Theatrical performances
Her "big break" came after answering a radio advertisement seeking for new, young performers for the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent. Sengbloh caught the attention of a New York casting director and joined the 2nd National Tour of Rent performing the role of Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive, drug-addicted S&M dancer. She performed the role of Mimi all over the United States as well as in Japan, from December 3, 1999 through December 3, 2000.
Following her success in Rent, Sengbloh was cast in Elton John & Tim Rice's Broadway musical Aida. She served as the standby for the main character, "Aida." Sengbloh performed the role in promotional appearances in addition to covering extended absences of stars such as Toni Braxton, Destiny's Child singer Michelle Williams, and singer Deborah Cox.
Sengbloh then participated in the creation of the role of Nettie in the musical version of The Color Purple, performing in the pre-Broadway tryout production in Atlanta.
In January 2005, shortly after the closure of Aida, Sengbloh was cast in Stephen Schwartz's new Tony-award winning musical, Wicked, as the standby for Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. She has performed the role numerous times, going on for stars Shoshana Bean, Eden Espinosa, Ana Gasteyer & Julia Murney.
She enjoyed a brief stint as the standby for Celie in the musical adaption of The Color Purple when standby Montego Glover took a leave of absence from the show.
[edit] Film, television and recording
In addition to her stage career, Sengbloh has performed in an assortment of television roles and movies. She also released her solo album entitled Southern Pin-Up in late 2005.
Sengbloh appeared in the Dawson's Creek episode "Escape From Witch Island" (Season 3, Episode 7) as the conspiracy theorist, one of Dawson's classmates. She can also be seen in the movie musical Across the Universe, in which she is featured as one of Sadie's backup singers in the last sequence of the movie.
