An American in Paris Star Leanne Cope on Auditioning in the Shower & Her Trashy TV Obsession

Age: 31

Hometown: Bath, England

Current Role: Making her Broadway debut as Lise Dassin, a young Parisian shop girl who wins the attention of three young men, including handsome G.I. and aspiring artist Jerry Mulligan (played by Robert Fairchild) in An American in Paris.

Stage & Screen Cred: Since 2003 Cope has been a member of the Royal Ballet, where she also trained. Some of her notable roles there include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Clara in The Nutcracker and Princess Louise Mayerling.

“My mom always had a passion for dancing—she did ballroom dance when she was young. It was more her decision to send me to ballet lessons than me wanting to wear a tutu.”

“The first ballet I saw was Swan Lake, and I fell in love with it. But I didn’t take dance seriously as a career until I was 15, even though I went to boarding school for it. I wanted to be a florist or a nurse.”

"I met my husband when we were nine years old. We were joint winners at a jazz competition. There’s a picture of us at nine holding the winners cup, which is just crazy."

"I was proposed to in front of 2500 people. [Husband Paul Kay, a soloist with the Royal Ballet] did it without saying a word. He handed me a note while we were both in The Nutcracker. It was such a private moment, even though we were on stage. When the curtain came down, he got down on one knee.”

"I auditioned in a shower cubicle—fully dressed—at the Royal Opera House between a double show of Swan Lake. [An American in Paris director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon] said that the acoustics would be best in there. I was so nervous, I was shaking."

"I love very terrible British reality TV like The Only Way is Essex. I guess it’s similar to your Jersey Shore. I love that and tabloid gossip. I definitely would not say I’m highbrow.”