MEET

JENN COLELLA

Tony Award-Nominated Actress, Singer, Storyteller & LGBTQ+ Advocate

ABOUT JENN

Jenn Colella is a Tony Award–nominated and Grammy Award–winning actor whose career spans Broadway, television, film, and higher education. Most recently, she starred as Carrie Chapman Catt in SUFFS on Broadway, earning a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performer. SUFFS will premiere on PBS’ Great Performances in May 2026.

Jenn is widely known for her portrayal of Captain Beverley Bass in the Tony Award–winning hit Come From Away, a performance that earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, along with Craig Noel, Helen Hayes, and Dora Awards for the production’s pre-Broadway runs. She also won a Grammy Award for her work on the Dear Evan Hansen cast recording.

  • Her Broadway credits include If/Then, Chaplin, High Fidelity, and Urban Cowboy (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination). Off Broadway, she has appeared in SUFFS (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, Lucky Guy, Slut, and Closer Than Ever. Select regional credits include Come From Away (La Jolla Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Toronto), Peter Pan (Sacramento Music Circus and PCLO), and Side Show at the Kennedy Center.

    On television, Jenn has appeared in Feed the Beast, Elementary, All My Children, Rescue Me, The Good Wife, The Code, Madam Secretary, FBI: Most Wanted, Evil, and Beast in Me. She currently plays Captain Alison Kershaw on CBS’s Elsbeth. Her film credits include Uncertainty with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the live capture film of Come From Away, streaming on Apple TV+.

    In addition to her performance career, Jenn is a proud adjunct associate professor at Columbia University and Pace University. She holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and an honorary doctorate from Columbia College.

    Drawing from decades of high-stakes performance and teaching, Jenn now brings her expertise in presence, communication, and leadership to organizations, universities, and live audiences nationwide. Her work centers on a simple but powerful truth: how we show up shapes what becomes possible.

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Entertainment & Lifestyle

Motivation

TAGS & EXPERTISE

Broadway • Entertainment • Creativity • Storytelling • Inspiration • Personal Growth • Representation • Authenticity

FEATURED VIDEOS

Testimonials

  • “Jenn Colella was a keynote speaker at our 2025 Build A Better Agency Summit and completely blew our audience away. Warm, funny, and wholly original, she delivered a masterclass in connection. As a Broadway performer, Jenn brings an energy and presence to the stage that few speakers can match. A year later, our agency owners are still talking about her message and the joy she brought to the room. She earned one of the highest speaker ratings of the conference — and it’s easy to see why. Jenn doesn’t just give a talk, she creates an experience.”

    — Drew McLellan
    CEO, Agency Management Institute

  • “Dr. Colella doesn’t just speak about high performance under pressure – she has lived it. With decades on Broadway, she translates the demands of live performance into practical, science-aligned tools audiences can use immediately. Her work reflects what behavioral research shows: the voice in our head shapes our physiology, psychological safety fuels innovation, and connection drives results. Jenn combines warmth, authority, and lived experience in a way that moves people emotionally while equipping them to lead and perform at their best.”

    — Dr. Rebecca Heiss
    Behavioral Scientist, Stress Physiologist, and International Keynote Speaker

  • “Jenn has hosted many Broadway Cares events, and is as good as it gets - charming, funny, serious when it is warranted, and always an audience favorite. But what sets Jenn apart is her ability to respond to anything that happens around her or in the audience with kindness, and most of all, humor. She is brilliantly spontaneous. As far as I'm concerned, Jenn Colella should have her own show - on television, live, whatever the medium!”

    — Danny Whitman
    Executive Director, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

  • “Jenn Colella's teaching is a lot like her acting: Nuanced. Sensitive. Generous. Kind. Immediate. Trustworthy. The space she creates for her master class students is one built demonstrably on empathy, safety and inclusion. As a coach, she meets you where you are in your work and - using specific, actionable cues - guides you quickly to the edge of your next breakthrough. Jenn challenges you to stretch, while reminding you it's ok to play.”

    — Xander Chauncey
    Television, film, Broadway actor

  • “I don’t believe I have ever seen an artist work a room the way that this singing actress does, and that’s what had me gobsmacked. Anybody who has only ever seen her play a part should get her concert appearances on their radar so that they, too, can go and learn, first hand, what it is to be Gobsmacked By Colella.”

    — Stephen Mosher
    Critic for BroadwayWorld

  • "The team was buzzing at lunch about the ideas and insights you shared with us during your keynote and discussing how they could use this new thinking to improve themselves and their results."

    — Keith Broxterman

    VP of Real Estate Operations, Redfin

  • "John’s dedication to customizing and delivering a high quality, accurate, and engaging presentation gave us the reassurance that he would not disappoint. What we didn’t foresee was the level of enthusiasm, motivation and likability that John exudes that took his presentation beyond our expectations. Our team of 200 people connected with him immediately and left the meeting inspired by their new skills for success. John truly hit it out of the ballpark and we will definitely be working with John again in the future."

    — Christel Kozar

    MPH I Program Manager, Anthem Insurance Provider Enablement

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