Eden Espinosa

Eden Erica Espinosa (born February 2, 1978) is an American actress and singer who is best known for her performances as Elphaba for the Broadway, Los Angeles, and San Francisco productions of the musical Wicked. In 2022, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role as the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Wonderland Bakery. In 2024, Espinosa received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Lempicka.

Espinosa was born in Anaheim, California, of Mexican descent. She began singing at the age of three, performing at age five, and recording at the age of ten. At Canyon High School, she played the role of Maria in West Side Story. After graduating, Espinosa worked at local theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios. She was also part of the successful performing group The Young Americans, which is based in Southern California and performs in front of audiences worldwide.

Espinosa made her Broadway debut as a member of the original Broadway cast of Stephen Schwartz's musical Wicked, which opened on October 30, 2003. She started the production as standby for Idina Menzel in the role of Elphaba. She was also an understudy for the role of Nessarose. Espinosa performed the role of Elphaba for a month continuously during the summer of 2004, while Menzel was filming Ask the Dust. Espinosa left Wicked on September 5, 2004, to originate the lead for the Broadway debut of Brooklyn.

Following the closing of Brooklyn the Musical, Espinosa performed the lead role of Elphaba for the Wicked First National tour during the entire San Francisco run, from August 5 to September 11, 2005. She replaced Stephanie J. Block while Block recovered from an injury.

On January 10, 2006, Espinosa returned to perform in the lead role of Elphaba for the Broadway production of Wicked, taking over the role from Shoshana Bean. Espinosa performed for the Wicked celebration of its 1,000th performance on Broadway, on March 21, 2006. She left the Broadway production on October 8, 2006, and was replaced by Ana Gasteyer.

Espinosa received the 2006 Broadway.com Audience Award for "Favorite Female Replacement", in recognition of her performances as Elphaba during her Broadway run as lead.

Espinosa originated the role of Elphaba for the third U.S. production of Wicked in Los Angeles, which opened on February 21, 2007, playing the role until December 30, 2007. She received broad critical acclaim for the role. She returned on October 31, 2008 and stayed with the production until its closing night on January 11, 2009. On March 2, 2010 until June 26, 2010, Espinosa played Elphaba in the San Francisco production of Wicked. This was the last time Espinosa ever played Elphaba.

Espinosa originated and workshopped the title role in Brooklyn the Musical over the course of two years. Its world premiere was on April 30, 2003 (previews), and it ran until June 15, 2003, at the Denver Civic Center.