Julie Benko

Julie Benko is an actress, singer, and writer based in New York City. She has performed on Broadway, national tours, and in regional theaters across the country. Her debut album, Introducing Julie Benko, was released on October 20, 2017. Her next recording, "Hand in Hand," a duo effort with jazz pianist (and her spouse) Jason Yeager, will be released summer 2022 on Club44 Records.

Career highlights include performing in Broadway revivals/national tours of Funny Girl, Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, and Spring Awakening, as well as off-Broadway and regional productions of Once (Wilde Award, Best Actress in a Musical), The Fantasticks (nomination, Best Actress in a Musical, BroadwayWorld Award), Rags (nomination, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Theatre Bay Area Awards, SF Critics Circle Awards), Goldstein, Bar Mitzvah Boy, Our Town, The Golem of Havana, and more. A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts BFA and MFA programs, she is constantly involved in developmental readings and workshops of new works at venues throughout New York City.

In addition to lending her voice to the 85th Academy Awards and the 70th Tony Awards ceremonies, Julie took home the Gold Medal and the Johnny Mercer Award in the national American Traditions Vocal Competition in 2017. In 2021, she was named a finalist alternate in the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

Julie has performed as a jazz singer and cabaret artist at sold-out venues across the Northeast, including Joe’s Pub, Don’t Tell Mama, and more. She has appeared as a soloist with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra and the Savannah Philharmonic. Her song “Thanksgivvukah” was featured on CNN’s Belief Blog as the seventh of “Eight Ways to Celebrate” the once-in-a-lifetime holiday.

Julie regularly volunteers her vocal talents with Sing For Your Seniors and VocalEase, organizations that provide senior centers and nursing homes with Broadway-level entertainment at zero cost. She is the proud guardian of "retired" street cat Thelonious Monk, to whom she lovingly refers as Monkey the Cat.

Awards

American Traditions Vocal Competition - Gold Medal, Johnny Mercer Award Lotte Lenya Competition - Finalist Alternate

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