Linedy Genao

Genao was born on May 28, 1991,[1] in Brooklyn, New York, to a Dominican-American family. At age ten, she moved with her family to Hamden, Connecticut, where she performed in plays in middle school and Hamden High School.[2] After not being accepted to several performing arts colleges, Genao studied business at the University of Connecticut and worked in banking while continuing to do community theater.[2][3]

Genao's Broadway debut was in 2015, when she performed in the ensemble of On Your Feet!, a musical about Gloria and Emilio Estefan. She got the part at an open casting call for Latino performers. When theatres had to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, she returned to her previous profession, doing remote banking work. She has stated that she considered returning to banking full-time at the time but decided against it when she was offered to join the ensemble of Dear Evan Hansen as an understudy when it re-opened on Broadway.[2][4] In late 2022, she starred as Gloria in a production of On Your Feet at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.[5]

After multiple rounds of auditions, Lloyd Webber asked Genao to take on the role of Cinderella in Bad Cinderella, his musical which originally ran in London’s West End as Cinderella. Bad Cinderella opened at the Imperial Theatre on March 23, 2023.[6] She became the first Latina woman to originate a leading role in a Lloyd Webber musical.[7]

Genao is married and has two step-children.[8]