Jenna Russell

Hometown: Born in London to Scottish parents, Russell says her hometown is "all over the place." After a brief stay in the city of her birth, she moved to Scotland for a few years and then back to London. "We moved around a lot," she admits, adding, "I have lived in various parts of London—that sounds odd because it's so sprawling and people usually end up in one place." Russell now resides with her partner, the actor Raymond Coulthard, in Whitstable in Kent, which she describes as a "quiet little seaside village" five miles north of Canterbury "where you walk down the street and say hello to everybody."

Currently: Making her Broadway debut playing Dot in the first act, the muse and lover of the pointillist painter Georges Seurat, and Marie in the second act, a grandmother with a lot to say, in the revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George at Studio 54. "I think we all fantasize about playing characters in Sondheim's shows," Russell says, "and these are my fantasy characters."

Busy Bee: Russell may be new to New York theatergoers, but she is well-known in the U.K. for her four-year run on TV's Born and Bred. She recently finished up back-to-back-to-back West End stints in Guys and Dolls for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award opposite Ewan McGregor and Jane Krakowski, Sunday in the Park with George for which she won the Best Actress Olivier Award and gave a sweetly vulgar acceptance speech, explaining with a laugh, "My working class roots came out" and Amy's View. But even for the most seasoned West End actor, Broadway is a big leap. Russell says her introduction to the Great White Way came through cast albums "I was in with a group of people who loved Liza Minnelli" and watching the Tony Awards when they were still televised in England. "It became this kind of mythical place," she says of Broadway.

Luck Be a Lady: Russell hadn't done any theater for seven years when she took on the role of Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls in 2005. "It was a huge surprise to me quite how much I loved doing it," she says. "I used to run to work; I was so excited." A big part of that excitement was her leading man. "I can't describe how wonderful Ewan is. He's like a ray of light, that man. Somebody described him to me once as golden, and I remember thinking 'Is he? What's that mean?' And then I met him and worked with him, and I knew. Everyone should have a Ewan MacGregor in her life."

Putting It Together: This new production of Sunday in the Park with George began life at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a190-seat fringe studio theater in south London. Because Russell was busy with Guys and Dolls at the time, she didn't audition for Sunday, but then the actress playing Dot Anna Jane Casey chose not to move to the West End with the production. "When the part became available, and they asked me to do it, I nearly fell over!" Russell exclaims. She had to recover from the shock quickly because she had only eight days of rehearsal before performances began. "You can actually get a lot done in eight days," she says, "but to get four weeks [in New York] and to get the bonding experience with the [Broadway] company was really lovely." How does the Broadway production compare to the London one? "It feels better—stronger and more vivid," she says, adding that director Sam Buntrock and his team of designers had more time to work on their vision, which includes some spectacular projections and animation. "I think it's fully realized over here," she says.

Move On: Broadway audiences likely have the performances of original Sunday stars Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters embedded in their hearts. Russell does, too. "They are both such icons to me," she says. "We've all grown up listening to that album, but I think this production is just its own production. It's the joy of good writing that it can withstand other actors playing the roles. It's like Hamlet—we can all embrace different people playing the parts. Hopefully in the future there will be lots of other versions of Dot and George that people can enjoy."

English Accent: One way that Russell is making her mark on the role is by giving Dot a Lancashire accent. "The Northern accent in Britain represents a strong working-class sound," she explains. "I think Dot is such a wonderful, warm character and also very childlike and innocent, but she knows what she needs emotionally, and for me the Northern accent encapsulates that. It represents an earthiness. People in the North are known for their warmth and their hospitality and their generosity of spirit, but they don't suffer fools. What's lovely is that American audiences are getting it."