Josefina Scaglione

Lovely and willowy brunette soprano singer and actress Josefina Scaglione was born in 1987 in Argentina. Both of her parents work in medicine while two of her grandparents were professional violinists. Josefina used to sing and dance around the house when she was a little girl and first became interested in performing as a child. Scaglione received a scholarship to spend a summer studying singing and dancing at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania while attending high school. Following graduation from high school, Josefina moved to Buenos Aires and started working as a musical theater actress: She not only acted in productions of "Annie" (she played the main title character at age nine), "Fame," and "Cinderella," but also portrayed Amber Von Tussle in a production of "Hairspray" at the Astral Theatre. Moreover, she has performed at numerous prestigious concert halls in her native Argentina. Veteran stage director Arthur Laurents saw a YouTube video of Scaglione singing Astor Piazolla's "Libertango" and had her flown to New York City to audition for the plum starring role of Maria in a revival of the hit classic musical "West Side Story." After first playing Maria in a National Theatre production of the play in Washington, D.C., Josefina made her Broadway stage debut as Maria in March, 2009 at the Palace Theatre in New York City. Her passionate and impressive performance garnered extremely favorable reviews from critics. In addition, Scaglione won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.