A native New Yorker, Karen Akers has had leading roles in two hit Broadway shows: Nine, from 1982, and Grand Hotel, in 1989. Nine, based on Federico Fellini’s celebrated film, 8½, earned Akers a Theatre World Award for her role as Luisa Contini, the long-suffering wife of a philandering film director. Akers later played Raffaela in Grand Hotel, the musical adaptation of the novel and film of the same name.
Along with her work in theatre Karen Akers has appeared in concert, on television, and in film. Woody Allen fans will remember her role as the chanteuse Kitty Haynes in The Purple Rose of Cairo. Marilyn Stasio, writing in Variety, described her as “sultry . . . a contralto with uncommon dramatic depth.”
