Laura Benanti

Laura Benanti is an American actress and singer. In 1998 she joined the Broadway revival of The Sound of Music as an ensemble member and later played Maria von Trapp. Born in New York City and raised in Kinnelon, New Jersey, she won a Tony Award for her performance as Louise in Gypsy (2008) and earned Tony nominations for Swing! (2000), Into the Woods (2002), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), and She Loves Me (2016). Her other Broadway credits include Nine (2003), In the Next Room (2009), Meteor Shower (2017), and My Fair Lady (2018). On television, she has appeared in Go On, Nashville, Supergirl, The Detour, Gossip Girl, and The Gilded Age, and from 2016 to 2026 she played Melania Trump in a recurring role on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her films include The Sound of Music Live! (2013), Take the Lead (2006), Here Today (2021), and No Hard Feelings (2023).