Jan Maxwell — Nominee for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Show:
Lend Me a Tenor

Role:
Maria Merelli, the hotheaded Italian wife of famed bombastic tenor (and even more famous womanizer) Tito Merelli.

Bio Brief:
A Broadway stalwart for the past two decades, Maxwell specializes in larger-than-life comic roles, which she infuses with intelligence and intensity.

Other Honors for This Role:
—Broadway.com Audience Award nomination for Favorite Performance by a Featured Actress in a Broadway Play
—Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
—Drama League Nomination for Distinguished Performance

Tony History:
2005: Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
2007: Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Coram Boy
2010: Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play, The Royal Family

Fun Fact:
Maxwell is the fourth actress to receive Tony nominations in two acting categories in the same year—and she did it playing women from the same era (1930s) outfitted in almost identical wigs.

Quotable Quote:
“People think I pick my parts, but actually I audition and fight for them [laughs]. I haven’t done a motion picture—any motion picture—and I’ve not had my own TV series, so this [recognition] is gratifying for all of us who live here in New York and make our living doing theater. I’m so incredibly grateful to the nominating committee for remembering me in Royal Family and giving me a nod for Lend Me a Tenor. —Maxwell in an interview with Broadway.com, 5/17/10