parents
elijah (62, industrial engineer)
ashley (58, travel agent)
.
siblings
william (35, physical therapist)
raisa (31, systems analyst)
kaya (27, front desk manager @ st. regis new york)
.
religious affiliation
nonpracticing baptist
.
languages
english, italian, french
.
education
chicago university - b.a. environmental science '04
.
At age 5, an acting career was nowhere to be found on Stella Landow's priority list. She wanted to be a mortician. At age 20, her priorities had changed slightly - now a student at Chicago University, she was studying climate change and biogeochemical cycles - but it was still only by a series of strange coincidences carried out over a well-connected network that she found herself plucked out of her hometown church choir and sitting in an audition for a low budget musical film that would later be known as her not-so-big break. Surrounded by dedicated, self-declared theatre geeks for the duration of filming, she quickly learned that the question "so which musical did Sondheim write, again?" was not one to ask (unless you wanted everyone to make fun of you for the next couple of weeks over it, which they did) and though her first inclination was to curl up into a ball and hide until it was time for her takes, she found herself strangely drawn in to their real-fake world, and when filming wrapped, she left with a large stack of burned cast recordings that had been thrust upon her and a new knowledge of all the words to all the songs in Rent.
No one went to see Camp in theaters, largely because it was only open in three of them, and Stella didn't care that the typical response to her parents gushing over their brilliant actress daughter were met with polite, blank nods, because she was already back to work figuring out what she was going to do to save the world's water supply. But every now and then, she'd receive an email from one of her new friends about a tour that was doing open calls in Chicago, or how perfect she would be for a show their friend's friend's roommate was planning on bringing to NYMF, or how she absolutely needed to sing this song they had just heard, and while it was rarely enough to make her throw aside her studies, she did attend an audition now and then, and even did a few community productions when her work load was less strenuous. After graduating, she did end up moving to New York City, but it was for an internship with a biotech company. To help with the bills, she took supplemental jobs waitressing, then bartending, then, with the help of her old friends and some convenient new ones she made while working tables in the theatre district, landed herself in a recording studio, lending her voice to everything from karaoke tracks to children's musical nursery rhyme albums. When her internship ended and wasn't followed up with a job offer from the company, it only made sense to fill her newly free days with auditions while she searched for a new science policy job. When a friend hooked her up with a contact from his agency, it seemed stupid to turn them down. And when she found herself with a recurring role on a soap opera and in talks for an off-broadway show and few bites in the science field, there wasn't really a decision to be made even if she'd wanted to make one.
To say that Stella anticipated abandoning her original dream for something ultimately much less practical would be a misstatement, but it would be as much of one to say she's not grateful for the opportunities she's been afforded: she's worked pretty steadily since her first professional job, and between her exposure gained in the much-hyped Green Day musical American Idiot earning her a dedicated fan following with the MTV set and her more recent casting in 2014's Les Mis revival adding a certain credibility to her name among the more traditional Broadway fan, she hopes the end isn't coming any time soon. Additionally, the increase in Twitter and Facebook followers has allowed her a much more public campaign for Charity: Water, her non-profit of choice. Dark and intense, first impressions of Stella can run the gamut from mysterious and intriguing to cold and aloof to potential serial killer, which she doesn't help with her occasionally morbid sense of humor and skills for asking uncomfortable questions and going long periods of time without blinking, but despite her hard outer shell, she's rarely outright unpleasant to deal with, and enjoys bonding with her castmates. She has a fondness for good whiskey, attractive women, Shakespearean tragedies - and, now that she can actually identify his work, Stephen Sondheim.
stage
2015 (broadway) hedwig and the angry inch ....
2014 (off-broadway) the fortress of solitude ....
2014 (broadway) les miserables ....
2013 (off-broadway) murder ballad ....
2012 (off-broadway) murder ballad ....
2011 - 2012 (national tour) hair ....
2011 (broadway limited engagement) hair ....
2010 (broadway) american idiot ....
2009 (berkeley rep) american idiot ....
2008 (off-broadway) romantic poetry ....
2008 (broadway) passing strange ....
2007 (off-broadway) passing strange ....
2006 (off-broadway) king lear ....
|
yitzhak
lala / abby
eponine
narrator
narrator
dionne
dionne
whatshername
whatshername
mary
sherry / renata / desi
sherry / renata / desi
cordelia
|
.
film
2015 romeo and juliet in harlem ....
2013 broadway idiot ....
2013 lee daniels' the butler ....
2011 the sitter ....
2006 take the lead ....
2003 camp ....
|
benvolia
herself
carol hammie
tina
larhette
dee
|
.
television
2015 "untitled dc comics spin-off show" ....
2007 - 2008 "all my children" ....
|
hawkgirl (1 ep)
pam henderson (31 eps)
|
.
• Is a huge movie fan, and can easily spend a day off in front of the television watching as many as her waking hours will allow. "Found footage"-style horror and thrillers are usually her go to, but she'll occasionally kick back with a glass of wine and a French film if she needs something more relaxing.
• Prefers living alone, and when it comes to finding a place, will almost always pay more and accept less to get a place by herself rather than having to share. Has only had a roommate out of choice rather than necessity once; this was her younger sister Kaya, who she considers one of her best friends, when Kaya first moved to the city. Currently lives alone in Lower Manhattan.
• Has celebrated every birthday since 2011 with a visit to Sleep No More and drags friends to Blackout NYC every Halloween, and frequently voices her desire to someday work in a promenade theatre experience, or even better, be part of creating an original one. Loves haunted houses in general, whether they be real paranormal activity sites or manufactured scare factories.
• Learned to read Tarot in the beginnings of her short-lived middle school Wiccan phase, and will occasionally bust out her cards for friends if they ask nicely.
• Keeps her love life largely under wraps, both out of a general desire for privacy and because her bisexuality has earned her flack in the past from both straight and gay peers. Primarily dates and sleeps with women, and has been misrepresented as a lesbian in several media publications.
parents
elijah (62, industrial engineer)
ashley (58, travel agent)
.
siblings
william (35, physical therapist)
raisa (31, systems analyst)
kaya (27, front desk manager @ st. regis new york)
.
religious affiliation
nonpracticing baptist
.
languages
english, italian, french
.
education
chicago university - b.a. environmental science '04
.