Christy Altomare

Biography

Christy Altomare is an American theater, movie, TV actress, singer & songwriter. Christy is known for her works as Wendla Bergmann in the musical Spring Awakening & musical play Mamma Mia. She plays the lead role of Anastasia in the musical Anastasia.

Childhood- Family

She was born on 23rd June 1986 in (Fairless Hills) Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. 

Education- Arts

• Bucks County community theater productions: Christy started acting in theater at the age of 5.
• Pennsbury High School: While at school she was part of school choir as well as drama team
• National YoungArts Foundation: She won their annual scholarships in 2004 in musical theater.
• University of Cincinnati's Conservatory of Music:  She graduated from University of Cincinnati's Conservatory of Music with a BFA in Musical Theater (2008). [2] Soon after her graduation she joined the first national tour of "Spring Awakening.". [2]

Relationships

Philip Browning

Christy and her longtime boyfriend Philip Browning announced their engagement on December 18th 2018. The two separated in October 2020, she announced the breakup on twitter  and ended the post with a positive note: "Sometimes love is letting go."

Chris Crook

Christy was in her hometown in June 2021, for her solo concert. Chris, her middle school crush and the school musical "Big The Musical" co-star Chris Crook was in the audience and the two met afterwards, it was apparently his mother that reminded him that she was not wearing the engagement ring anymore.

The two announced engagement on February 7th 2022. They got married in September 2022 at at Lambertville Station in New Jersey. They have a son named Preston born in 2023. 

Career

Music

Christy Altomare started writing songs and playing guitar at the age of 11. She was just 13 when she released her first independent CD. [2] She has released CDs of her songs such as-

• Not Yet Over You (2000)
• Waiting For You (2007)
• After You (2008)

She has also penned and sung some songs:

• Accept or Deny (A Song for the People Who Love Facebook): A funny son about the Facebook Friendship requests, co-written with Mitchell Walker
• Watching The Leaves: a music video with Olivia Oguma & Michael Mahany
• If I Can't Be With You: A song about after break-up feelings. About the five stages of grief.
• (Morning Tune) Better
• In The Blue

Some of the songs she has sung on spotify have had 10-50 million views [3] . Few of her top songs on spotify are:

1. Once upon a December
2. Journey to the Past
3. In My Dreams
4. In a crowd of thousands
5. Learn to do it
6. A Rumor in St. Petersburg
7. Stay, I Pray you
8. Paris holds the key (to your heart),
9. We'll go from there
10. Still/ The Neva Flows (reprise)

As a musician: She has provided music for musical productions- 

• Soiled Doves
• Anon[ymus] (a play written by Naomi Iizuka)

Acting

Video: Christy Altomare on the sets of Momma Mia!

She has performed in over 45 cities and has given 600+ performances of her play 'Spring Awakening'. It is a unique coming of age, 1980s, German origin musical.

She played the titular role of Anastasia in the musical adoptation of the animation movie Anastasia. 

She played Jerusha Abbott in the two-person show "Daddy Long Legs".

In the Broadway production of the musical "Mamma Mia!", she played Sophie Sheridan.

Badges(2010): She played the character- Christy in the Comedy TV movie directed by Ed Buffman featuring Barry Brait, Christy Altomare, Eric Austin in the cast.

Central Park Joker(2011): Christy played Her in the short movie directed by Amos Posner, it starred Andy Mientus, Christy Altomare in the main roles.

The Big C(2011): Christy Altomare appeared as a Female Student in the Comedy Drama TV Series created by Darlene Hunt featuring Laura Linney, Gabriel Basso, Oliver Platt in the cast.

Truth Slash Fiction(2016): Christy Altomare was Betty in the Comedy Drama directed by Daniel Schloss with the cast of Christy Altomare, Jordyn DiNatale, Philippe Arroyo .

Christy has also appeared on the show Show People with Paul Wontorek(2017)

Filmography

Movies

TV Series

Theatre

Discography

Interesting Facts

• Connecticut Critics Circle Award: She won the award for her role as Anastasia in the play Anastasia(inspired by the 1997 animation movie)
• Award nominations: Her role of Anastasia has been a critical success with nominations & onors at- Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle Award, Theatre World Award, Broadway.com Audience Award.
• Christy has won NFAA (National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts) musical theater awards. [4]
• Christy has regularly performed at the International Thespian Festival
• I am Light: She has a tattoo on her left arm that reads- I am Light.
• She participates in Queer pride events.
• BELLA New York Magazine
• Bracelet maker: She designs bracelets
• Rachel Green's Hairstyle: She was a huge fan of the character while growing up and often copies the hairstyle.
• Mimicry and impressions: She does good impressions of - Norah Jones, Elmo.
• She drinks lot of water and believes it is essential for health and beauty.
• Her favorite musicals: Ragtime, Last 5 years, Miss Saigon.
• Fanastasia: Name of the group of fans who love the character Anastasia played by Christy.
• Alto heads: Fans of Christy Altomare call themselves Alto heads.
• She went to Paris in 2017 with her then boyfriend.
• As a kid Christy would play act with her sister, her mother was very supportive of Christy's acting and used to gather neighborhood kids and put up a show called- The Magic Box.
• She has a pet dog named Sophie, also loves cats and has had cats in the past.
• A fan sent her an Anastasia doll.
• #WaitressPieChallenge: She participated in the 2017 "Waitress Pie Challenge" to help raise awareness about breast cancer with KomenNYC

Quotes

• Sometimes the universe dislocates a rib to say - slow down a tick- take a breath - find peace for a moment.
• My mantra in life is 'I am Light' when I was a young girl my dad used to tell me- 'No matter what obstacles come in your way, as long as you keep moving forward with hope & joy in your heart anything is possible'
• I don't think it will ever sink in that I'm playing Anastasia, I'm grateful to be playing Anastasia.
• start taking care of yourself, start loving yourself, try to be the best person you can be in life, the more love you put out into the world, more love you get back.
• You need to be optimistic in this business.  And you also have to be tough.  
• I think I have always been an actress. When I was a kid, I was always playing dress up and performing made up shows
• I love making people feel.
• Hamilton is the single most beautiful piece of art I have ever seen in my life.

Sources

1. Christy Altomare on wikipedia
2. Christy Altomare IMDB bio
3. Spotify link (albums and singles)
4. Christy Altamore official website- Bio
5.