Kristi Dawn Chenoweth was born in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on July 24, 1968. The diminutive cutie discovered her love for song at church, where she belted out hymns louder than the rest of the congregation combined. At the age of 12, she sang in front of the entire Southern Baptist church, and found that she loved the experience. Music and performing soon became her passion.

Thinking that opera would be her key to a career, Kristin set out for the arduous Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. There, she won the "most talented up-and-coming singer" award and was invited, on scholarship, to attend Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts. Kristin ended up declining the offer, however, upon learning that she had been chosen for an off-Broadway show that she had auditioned for on a whim. This first gig sent Kristin off for New York City.

Kristin's first show, Animal Crackers, debuted in 1993 at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse. Her Broadway debut came four years later, with a significant part in a Richard Rodgers Theatre production of Steel Pier. Roles in Strike up the Band, Moliere's Scapin and A New Brain followed, all leading up to her defining Broadway role: that of Sally for the 1998-'99 presentation of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

The role seemed tailor-made for Kristin, and it won her a "Best Featured Actress in a Musical" award at the 1999 Tonys. This led to her first TV role later that same year, a lead in the miniseries Paramour. A small-screen production of Annie followed, where Kristin starred alongside Kathy Bates. Even with her television success budding, Kristin didn't neglect the stage, and she continued impressing people with her comedy in the Broadway hit Epic Proportions.

As writers begin working on Kristin, a soon-to-be short-lived NBC sitcom starring the Broadway star, she also hit the sound booth to produce an album of standards from the '40s. Let Yourself Go was released in 2001, and featured Kristin showing off her impressive range with a number of Broadway classics. She also performed in several concerts with state symphony orchestras, including the Washington Symphony and Virginia Symphony.

In 2001, Kristin's long-time engagement to Marc Kudisch, another Broadway actor, came to an end. In spite of this bump in the road, the star kept on truckin'. In 2003, she starred in a television adaptation of The Music Man and took on the role of Ms. Noodle on Sesame Street, showing off her likable, bubbly side on the children's show. Kristin's television work culminated in the recurring role of Annabeth Schott on The West Wing.

Spurned by the success of a September 2004 show at Carnegie Hall, Kristin continued working on her second album, As I Am, which was released in April of 2005. After receiving another Tony nomination for her performance as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in 2004's Wicked, Kristin began working in film.

Kristin was set up to make a huge splash of a debut in Hollywood, as from the outset she was cast in a string of much-anticipated films. First came Bewitched, co-starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell, then The Pink Panther (2005), co-starring Beyonce Knowles.

She was cast in another Will Ferrell movie, Stranger than Fiction, for 2006, and also won a role in Running with Scissors. Suffice it to say that when the animated feature Rapunzel Unbraided, which Kristin lends her voice to, wraps up in 2007, this performer will be in dire need of sleep. 

Source: askmen.com