Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Chenoweth are both well-known names in the entertainment industry. Kristin is an award-winning actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film, and television. Ellen is a prominent casting director, who has worked on many acclaimed films and TV shows. But are they related by blood or by marriage? The answer is no.
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Kristin Chenoweth: A Star of Stage and Screen
Kristin Chenoweth was born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth on July 24, 1968, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She was adopted when she was five days old by Junie Smith Chenoweth and Jerry Morris Chenoweth, both chemical engineers. She has stated that she is of one quarter Cherokee ancestry and that she eventually met her biological mother.
Kristin sang gospel music as a child in Oklahoma and studied opera before deciding to pursue a career in musical theatre. In 1997, she made her Broadway debut in Steel Pier, winning a Theatre World Award, before appearing in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked. Her other Broadway roles were in The Apple Tree, Promises, Promises and On the Twentieth Century, for which she received Tony Award nominations.
She also starred in several TV shows, such as The West Wing, Pushing Daisies (for which she won an Emmy Award), Glee (for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards), GCB, Trial & Error and Schmigadoon!. She also played Maleficent in the Disney Channel movie Descendants. In films, she has played mostly character roles, such as in Bewitched, The Pink Panther and RV. She has also released several albums of songs, such as A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas, Some Lessons Learned, Coming Home, The Art of Elegance and For the Girls. She also wrote a memoir, A Little Bit Wicked.
Ellen Chenoweth: A Master of Casting
Ellen Chenoweth is a prominent American casting director. She started her career in the late 1970s as an office manager for the Actors Studio. She helped discover an unknown theater actor named Mickey Rourke for the 1980 television film City in Fear.
For her second film, Barry Levinson’s Diner, she cast many of the then relatively unknown actors such as Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Paul Reiser and Ellen Barkin. A year later, she helped cast the Academy Award-winning film Terms of Endearment.
In the 1980s, Chenoweth was the casting director for such films as The Natural, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People and Broadcast News. She also worked with directors such as Joel and Ethan Coen (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, True Grit), George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck., Michael Clayton), Warren Beatty (Bugsy) and Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy).
She has won several awards for her work, including an Emmy Award for John Adams and an Artios Award for No Country for Old Men.
No Relation
Despite their similar surnames and careers in show business, Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Chenoweth are not related to each other. They have different backgrounds and origins. Kristin is from Oklahoma and was adopted by a family with the surname Chenoweth. Ellen is from Texas and has the surname Chenoweth by birth.
According to Wikipedia, the surname Chenoweth is of Cornish origin and means “new house”. It is derived from the Cornish words “chen” (new) and “ewyth” (house). It is possible that Kristin’s adoptive family and Ellen’s family share a common ancestor from Cornwall who migrated to America centuries ago. However, there is no evidence to confirm this hypothesis.
Therefore, it is safe to say that Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Chenoweth are not related by blood or by marriage. They are just two talented women who happen to have the same last name.
