June Angela

June Angela Profanato (born August 18, 1959) is an actress, singer, and dancer. Her best-known role is that of Julie, the mainstay member of the "Short Circus" featured in the PBS children's television series The Electric Company during its entire six-year run.

The Short Circus

As Julie, Angela appeared in more first-run episodes of The Electric Company than any other member of the Short Circus. Since the The Electric Company consists of diverse cast members, Angela is the sole person of Asian ancestry to be on the show. Angela's agent convinced the producers to let her audition although initially there was no plan to include an Asian cast member.

Angela practically grew up on the show, starting at age 11; she was 17 when production ceased in 1977. Angela was the only Short Circus member to be retained throughout the entire run of The Electric Company since August 1, 1971. As such, Angela was the most prominent member of the group, and many viewers remember her the most and consider her the essence and heart of the Short Circus. She was awarded an Emmy of Honor for her work on the series. Angela lent her vocals to the Grammy Award-winning 1971 soundtrack album of The Electric Company as well. Angela said she named her Short Circus character Julie after her idol at the time, Julie Andrews.^[1]

Career Highlights

When The Electric Company wrapped production, Angela worked in theater. She was nominated for Broadway's Tony and Drama Desk Award as Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Shogun: The Musical. Additional theater credits include Tuptim in the Broadway & London Palladium Revival of The King and I with Yul Brynner and starring in many world premieres including Sayonara^[2] and Off-Broadway's Cambodia Agonistes at Pan Asian Repertory Theatre.^[3] For Velena Hasu Houston's Tea,^[4] she won a Theater Guild Award for Best Lead Actress.^[1]

Angela has also appeared on television. TV credits include being a regular on the series Mr.T & Tina with Pat Morita; starring in American Geisha and David Henry Hwang's Blind Alleys; recurring on Mad-TV; co-starring on ER; Step By Step; Hannah Montana, and Dexter. She was also on the Emmy-Award-winning special Free to be You and Me. ^[5][6]

Her voice work includes the Emmy-Award-winning series MADtv, The Big Blue Marble, Nickelodeon's The Wild Thornberrys, Danny Phantom and Walt Disney Studios' English dub of the acclaimed, Japanese Miyazaki animated film Kiki's Delivery Service for which she does voices and is also co-writer of Soaring, the main title song.^[5]

June holds the distinction of making the youngest solo soprano debut at age 10 as Flora in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.^[7] Later, Angela's solo CD, released on Original Cast Records, features a full orchestra on songs from shows she has done, including a medley from The Electric Company, as well as several jazz numbers.^[1]

Angela was interviewed for the 2006 DVD release of The Best of The Electric Company. Angela was one of several Electric Company alumni (along with Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno and Children's Television Workshop founder Joan Ganz Cooney) who shared their memories of working on the show.^[1]

Angela was levitated atop the World Trade Center by Doug Henning in the "highest levitation in the world".^[8] In June, 1976, the photo was featured on the cover of The Electric Company Magazine.^[9]

References

External links

• June Angela at the Internet Movie Database