Mandy Gonzalez

Gonzalez was born and raised in Santa Clarita, California. Her father is Mexican and her mother is Jewish (of Polish and Romanian origin). She attended Saugus High School and then attended the California Institute of the Arts for one year. Gonzalez then worked as a background singer for Bette Midler's Millennium Tour (1999–2000). After that she moved to New York City, where she worked as a coat check attendant while attending open calls. Prior to her appearances on Broadway, Gonzalez appeared in the off-Broadway production of Eli's Comin', a musical which was based on the lyrics and music of songwriter Laura Nyro that ran off-Broadway in 2001. Gonzalez won an Obie Award for her performance. In 2001, Gonzalez made her debut on Broadway in the role of Princess Amneris in the Tim Rice/Elton John musical Aida as the standby for Idina Menzel. In 2002, she played the role of Sarah in the short-lived Broadway musical Dance of the Vampires. She returned to Aida in 2003, as Amneris, opposite Toni Braxton and Will Chase.