Anneliese van der Pol Biography
Summary
"Anneliese Louise van der Pol" (born September 23, 1984) is a Dutch-American actress and singer. After an early career in musical theatre, she was cast as Chelsea Daniels in the Disney Channel Original Series "That's So Raven", a role that gained her renown among young audiences. Van der Pol also has a career as a singer and has recorded several songs for The Walt Disney Company.
Early life
Van der Pol was born in Naaldwijk, The Netherlands to Willem van der Pol, who is Dutch and the director of the Physical Plant at the California State University in Fullerton, California, and Dyan Ross, an American from Brooklyn, New York City. Van der Pol's mother named her after Anne Frank after visiting the house where Frank hid. Van der Pol has two older sisters, Rachel and Sarah, and is of Jewish heritage. Van der Pol's family moved to her mother's native United States when she was three years old, and she retains dual citizenship between the Netherlands and the United States.
Van der Pol attended Washington Elementary School in Bellflower, California. She began acting in third grade and graduated from the theater program of the acclaimed Orange County High School of the Arts. She played Eva Perón in the Buena Park Civic Theatre production of "Evita" in 1999 and received positive reviews from the "Los Angeles Times". At the age of fifteen, she was also one of the youngest actresses to play the role in a professional production.
She also was a runner-up on a special karaoke episode of "Great Pretenders".
Early Career
Van der Pol subsequently starred as 'Laurey' in an Austin, Texas, musical theatre production of "Oklahoma!" from 2000 to 2001. Her performance earned her the Austin Critics Table Award nomination for 'Best Actress in a Musical.' Van der Pol was later cast as Chelsea Daniels, the best friend of the title character on the Disney Channel's "That's So Raven", a role she played from 2002 to 2007. Just as the first season of 'That's So Raven' began, she went back to Austin Musical Theatre to perform in 'Celebrate: AMT,' a performance highlighting all the shows the company had done up to then. She was a featured soloist. Van der Pol has also appeared on the "Disney Channel Games" as a member of the Red Team; her teammates were Zac Efron, Kay Panabaker, Dylan Sprouse, Shin Koyamada, and Moises Arias. She was originally offered the role of Kim Possible but chose not to take the part.
Anneliese also had a minor role in "Bratz: The Movie" as Avery, a mean popular girl.
Van der Pol is a soprano and is trained in the belting vocal technique. In 2004, she recorded the song 'Over It' for the Disney Channel Original Movie "Stuck in the Suburbs". Her second solo recording, called 'A Day in the Sun,' a cover originally sung by Hilary Duff, appeared on the album "That's So Raven Too!". Van der Pol has been associated with several other Disney music projects, including the Elton John song 'Circle of Life' for a special edition of "The Lion King" DVD, 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes' for the "Cinderella: Special Edition DVD", and 'Candle on the Water' from "Pete's Dragon" on "DisneyMania 4".
Van der Pol is one of only three cast members of "That's So Raven" (along with T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh and Rondell Sheridan) not to star in a Disney Channel Original Movie, although she is the only cast member to star in a Walt Disney Theatrical Production.
2007-Present: Broadway Debut, "Beauty & the Beast", & "Vanities: A New Musical"
In February 2007, it was announced Anneliese would be making her Broadway debut as Belle, in "Beauty and the Beast". Van der Pol was the musical's 17th (and final) Belle. She played the role from April 3, 2007 to July 29, 2007 as the show played 5,464 regular performances. During her run as Belle, Anneliese also performed at Bryant Park's Broadway in Bryant Park on July 12, 2007 along "Beauty and the Beast" co-stars Chris Hoch and Jeanne Lehmann, performing songs from the show. Prior to "Beauty"s final show, Anneliese appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly for a small interview discussing her Broadway debut and experiences with the show. She also discussed the origins of her name, and performed "Beauty" 's 'A Change in Me.' To date, Anneliese remains to be Broadway's final Belle.
In May 2008, it was revealed that Anneliese would play the role of Kathy in the new musical, Vanities. She played the role during the musical's Broadway previews in Pasadena, California from August 22, 2008 to September 28, 2008. Originally, the musical was scheduled to begin performances on Broadway February 2, 2009 at the Lyceum Theatre with an official opening on February 26, 2009 but the show's Broadway run was postponed due to the economic turmoil in the US and to focus on the future of the musical. The show then made its New York City debut Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre on July 2, 2009 in previews, and officially opened on July 16, 2009. Performances continued through August 9, 2009. On August 21st, she started recording the Original Cast Album for Vanities alongside Lauren Kennedy and Sarah Stiles.
As of July 2009, she has received her fourth call-back for the role of Glinda in "Wicked" on Broadway. Van der Pol is slated to appear in a twelve part Jewish version of "Sesame Street" called "Shalom Sesame". The series is scheduled to debut during the Hanukkah holiday in December 2010.
Van der Pol will star as Esther in the Theatre Under The Stars production of "Meet Me in St. Louis" which will run from September 29 to October 11, 2009.
Discography
;"Other albums/compilations"
1999: "Children of Christmas
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Anneliese van der Pol.
