Fresh Face: Kerry Ellis

Age: 29

Hometown: The tiny village of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. "I'm actually a country girl at heart," says Ellis, who has called London home since she moved there at age 16.

Currently: Making her Broadway debut as the first Brit to play gifted green girl Elphaba in the blockbuster musical Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre. After serving as standby to Idina Menzel when the show opened in London, Ellis replaced Menzel in the West End production in 2007.

Early Ambition: "I always wanted to sing," Ellis says of her childhood. She looked up to iconic singers such as Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and Elaine Paige and became enamored with pop stars like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Ellis, who studied musical theater at Laine Theatre Arts, a small college in Surrey, is the only performer in her family. "What's nice is that they're not at all associated with the theater," she says of her supportive relatives, noting that her older brother is a fish consultant in the U.K. "That keeps my feet well on the ground, which is brilliant and balances me out."

A Loverly Launch: After graduating, Ellis got her big break as star Martine McCutcheon's understudy in Trevor Nunn's production of My Fair Lady at the National Theatre in 2001. "It was quite intense," Ellis says of auditioning for the revered director. "I was young and thought that I was going up for an ensemble part. I didn't dream of getting the understudy or ever going on—let alone to be going on loads and working closely with Trevor." Though McCutcheon won an Olivier Award for her performance as Eliza Doolittle, she often missed performances due to illness. Thus, Ellis started garnering attention for her take on the role. "I was very lucky," she says, explaining that because of McCutcheon's fame, "a lot of press kind of leaked onto me." The attention effectively launched Ellis' career.

I Want It All: Ellis' next project was a huge departure from My Fair Lady; she originated the role of the saucy, rebellious Meat in We Will Rock You, the big-budget futuristic rock musical based on the songs of Queen. "I've been really lucky my entire career," Ellis notes about the variety of roles she's played—from Meat to Fantine in Les Miserables and Ellen in Miss Saigon. "I've gone from doing something more classical to a rock musical and back," she exclaims. "It's been great. I haven't been pigeonholed into one style of singing."

Lucky Seven: Ellis auditioned an astonishing seven times to play Elphaba in Wicked. "I was doing Les Miz at the time, "the actress recalls, "and they had me in at 11 in morning singing 'Defying Gravity' before going to do two shows of Les Miserables. My God! What a tough audition process!" Ellis says she understands now why it was such an ordeal. "They have to put you through that because it's such a demanding role," she explains. "I think they brought me back so many times just to see if I could regularly knock out the numbers."

Sorcery Sisterhood: Knowing that the part would be hers after Menzel departed the London production, Ellis agreed to serve as the Tony winner's standby. "It was a double-edged sword," she says of being the second Elphaba in London. "I would have loved to open the show, but it was also nice to watch her do it and be a part of it from the beginning," she says, adding, "I did get to go on a couple of times while she was there, which was great because it took the pressure off for when I finally opened [in the show]." Ellis has now been welcomed into the New York circle of divas who have played the coveted role. Interestingly, she used a British accent as Elphaba in London and is doing an American accent in New York. "I spoke to Julia Murney last night," Ellis says, "and we compared notes about how everybody that's played it has seemed to wrestle with the role. It's such a massive, demanding part."

Queen Witch: In an unusual move, Ellis had the opportunity to marry two of her career-forming roles on disc. Backed by a 60-piece orchestra, she recorded two songs from Wicked "Defying Gravity" and "I'm Not That Girl" and one number from We Will Rock You "No One But You" for a three-track CD called Wicked in Rock, produced by Queen lead guitarist Brian May, who also arranged the songs and accompanied Ellis' vocals. "To see something that's so personal to me come alive is just mind-blowing," she says of the CD, which is selling like hotcakes at the Gershwin Theatre as well as in London.

Isn't It Good: Extending her Wicked sisterhood, Ellis played Svetlana opposite Menzel's Florence in a concert performance of Chess at London's Albert Royal Hall earlier this year. "It was lovely for us to actually do something together since we never really saw much of each other at Wicked," she enthuses. "And it was a dream of mine to work at the Albert Hall. That's kind of off my checklist now. I keep having to make bigger dreams because I keep accomplishing them. It's amazing. Broadway is an incredible achievement. What's bigger than Wicked? Where do I go from here?"