Idina Menzel — singer (frozen) with roots in the Russian Empire
Idina Menzel is an American actress and singer best known for originating the role of Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway and providing the voice and songs of Elsa in Frozen. Her rendition of Let It Go became one of the most recognised songs in Disney history.
Tracing the roots — Russia / East Euro
Menzel's grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe (Russian Empire), part of the wave that settled in New York. She grew up in a Jewish household on Long Island, and the emotional intensity — the outsider's longing to be accepted — that makes her performances of Defying Gravity and Let It Go so powerful carries something of that inherited cultural memory.
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Russia / East Euro. At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"I'm a little bit broken, and that's okay."