Laura Benanti Joins GOSSIP GIRL Sequel Series On HBO Max

Deadline has reported that Laura Benanti will joining the cast of HBO Max's upcoming GOSSIP GIRL sequel series. The cast includes Emily Alyn Lind, Tavi Gevinson, Whitney Peak, Eli Brown, Johnathan Fernandez, Jordan Alexander, Savannah Smith, Evan Mock, Jason Gotay, Thomas Doherty, Adam Chanler-Berat, Savannah Smith and Zion Moreno.

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The new GOSSIP GIRL is written by Joshua Safran, based on the book by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series will feature a new generation of New York private school teens and address the ever-changing landscape of both New York City and the world of social media.

Laura Benanti has made headlines as a guest on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" with her spot-on, hilarious impersonation of Melania Trump. In 2017, Laura joined the cast as a regular on the hit "Samantha Bee" and Jason Jones' TBS comedy, "The Detour." In 2016, Laura starred as Amalia Balash in the hit Broadway Musical, She Loves Me, for which she received her fifth Tony nomination. Laura also received Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Drama Desk Award nominations for this role. In addition to television work and her critically acclaimed performance as Elsa Schrader in NBC's "The Sound of Music LIVE," Ms. Benanti is a highly celebrated stage actress who took Broadway by storm at the age of 18.

She received a Drama Desk award, Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony Award Nomination for her starring role in the Broadway production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown for Lincoln Center where she also starred in the Broadway production of Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. Ms. Benanti earned the 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for her revelatory portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy opposite Patti LuPone and directed by Arthur Laurents. Her other Broadway roles include The Wedding Singer, Nine, starring Antonio Banderas, her Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated performance of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods and her sultry Tony nominated turn in Swing! Ms. Benanti made her Broadway debut as Maria in The Sound of Music opposite Richard Chamberlain.

Other distinguished theater performances include The Public Theater's production of Christopher Durang's Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Perdita in The Winter's Tale at the Williamstown Theatre Festival opposite Kate Burton, Anne in A Little Night Music at the L.A. Opera opposite Victor Garber, Eileen in Wonderful Town opposite Donna Murphy and most recently her portrayal of Rosabella in the Most Happy Fella, both for City Center Encores! Ms. Benanti completed a week-long engagement at the popular New York cabaret club, 54 Below, for which The New York Times hailed her as a "supremely confident" performer whose "bright, full soprano, with its semioperatic heft, can go almost anywhere." In September 2013, she released her debut album, In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention: Live at 54 BELOW on Broadway Records to ecstatic reviews. Laura currently performs her concerts in venues around the country and even recently performed for the President and First Lady of the United States at both the Fords Gala and THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS in Washington DC.

In 2014, she joined the cast of ABC's hit series "Nashville" guest-starring as songbird Sadie Stone. Laura also appeared in recurring roles on CBS's "The Good Wife" and HBO's "Nurse Jackie." Laura's past television credits include a starring role in the NBC series "The Playboy Club" and "Go On" opposite Matthew Perry. She also starred in the F/X original series "Starved". Ms. Benanti had a recurring role on "Law and Order: SVU," "Royal Pains," and "Eli Stone." and had appearances on "The Big C" and "Elementary".

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