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Idina Menzel is a multiple award-winning American singer-songwriter, and actress, who has shown versatile expertise in the entertainment industry. She began her acting career in Theater and has gone on to feature prominently in several box office hits, most notably voice the lead in Disney hit Frozen. Her music career has been equally successful, but oftentimes, many wonder which of her careers contribute the most to her 8 figure net worth.
Idina Menzel’s Singing Prowess Has Distinguished Her In The Acting Scene
Idina Menzel is a Broadway and Disney star of magical musicals whose singing talent has attained the title “an earthly star with heavenly pipes”. Following her graduation from the Tisch School of the Arts where she achieved a Bachelor’s degree in Drama, the versatile actress began her career with Broadway productions and has mostly performed in musicals which have earned her multiple accolades. In 1996, she was cast as Maureen Johnson in the Broadway production of the rock musical, Rent at the New York Theatre Workshop. Her sensational performance in the musical earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
The world has been changed for the better AND #ForGood because of you, @WICKED_Musical! ?? Happy 16th Birthday – thank you for everything! ? #Wicked16 @idinamenzel pic.twitter.com/yWAQT5kIyz
— Kristin Chenoweth (@KChenoweth) October 30, 2019
Later in 2000, she starred in two theater works namely; The Wild Party and Summer of ’42. She also played Sheila in Hair at New York Center in 2001 and further had roles in Aida and The Vagina Monologues before her role of Elphaba in the hit Broadway musical, Wicked in 2003 earned her a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and hence, catapulted her to stardom. She additionally reprised her role in Wicked at the Appolo Victoria Theatre in 2006 and then cemented her place as a musical star by exceptionally portraying Elizabeth Vaughan in the critically and commercially successful musical If/Then in 2014.
She Attained Celebrity Status With Her Roles In Musical Films
Interestingly, Idina Menzel has not limited herself to performing in theaters but has moved on to make a name for herself with her roles in many musical films and TV series in the past years. After playing Linda in the 2002 dark comedy film, Just a Kiss, the gifted singer went on to reprise her role of Maureen Johnson in the film adaptation of Rent in 2005. She followed it up two years later with another terrific performance in the box office hit, Enchanted. She portrayed Nancy Tremaine in Walt Disney’s animated musical film that also stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, and James Marsden.
She then charmed numerous TV series lovers with her depictions as Shelby Corcoran in the smash musical comedy-drama series, Glee from 2010-13. Idina Menzel subsequently garnered a massive fan base with her voice role of Elsa in Disney’s mega-hit animated movie, Frozen (2013) which she further reprised in Frozen Forever (2015), Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (2017), and Frozen II (2019). She equally reprised the role in many video games such as Disney Infinity (2013), Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2014), and Kingdom Hearts III (2019).
Still not showing any signs of slowing down, Idina Menzel will once again display her amazing singing talent in the upcoming musical romantic comedy film, Cinderella (2021), thus, establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood, especially in the musical film arena.
The Actress Has Released Many Albums In Her Solo Music Career
Since her performance at Lilith Fair in the year 1998, Idina Menzel has continued making waves in the music industry; writing and performing original music. In the same 1998, she dropped her debut album ‘Still I Can’t Be Still’ under Hollywood Records. Unfortunately, the album recorded poor sales of 10,000 copies and was put out of print by the record label, but, after Menzel’s rise to fame in the early 2000s, the album was re-released in 2005 and eventually registered sales of about 18,000 copies in the US.
This holiday season is going to be so special for me. #Frozen2 accompanied by my swingin’ holiday album! A tribute to where it all began for me. “Christmas: A Season of Love.” ❤️ October 18. Pre-add/pre-save/pre-order ➡️ https://t.co/KTi1TGdPyR #ASeasonOfLove pic.twitter.com/vc8uDkTvnX
— Idina Menzel (@idinamenzel) September 27, 2019
Despite the poor sales record, the actress moved on to drop her second album ‘Here’ independently in February 2004 and sold 2,000 copies. She followed it up by releasing ‘I Stand’ album in January 2008 which had sales of 80,000 copies in the United States. Her other albums include ‘Holiday Wishes’ (2014), ‘Idina’ (2016), and ‘Christmas: A Season of Love’ (2018). Thus far, Menzel has dropped at least 6 studio albums, 15 singles, and 2 live albums.
She has equally been on tour in many US cities as well as Australia where she performed in Brisbane, Melbourne, and South Australia. Some of her tours include Still I Can’t Be Still Tour (1998), I Stand Tour (2009), Barefoot at the Symphony Tour (2013, World Tour (2015), and A Season of Love Tour (2019).
Playing the Lead In High-grossing Films Has Fetched Her Much Wealth
Thus far in her professional career, Idina Menzel seems to have accumulated more wealth from her acting roles than her music career endeavors, as she has starred in a slew of commercially successful musicals. For her role in Wicked from September 2006 through December 2006, the actress pocketed about $30,000 per week, emerging as the highest-paid female performer in the West End at the time.
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Although her other paychecks have not been made public, Idina Menzel ought to have earned massively from playing lead roles in successful projects such as Wicked, Frozen, and Frozen II which have all been rated among the highest-grossing musicals of all time. Wicked grossed over $1 billion in total Broadway revenue by 2016 and then became Broadway’s second highest-grossing musical in 2017. Frozen, on the other hand, grossed more than $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office, emerging as the highest-grossing animated movie at the time.
#IntoTheUnknown. I can’t wait for you to hear the whole thing. xo #Frozen2 @disneyfrozen pic.twitter.com/h9JC42uDdf
— Idina Menzel (@idinamenzel) September 30, 2019
It was also the highest-grossing musical movie for several years before being surpassed in 2019 by The Lion King. Currently, Frozen is ranked the 16th highest-grossing movie of all-time. Also, Frozen II had a massive theatrical performance as it earned over $1.4 billion worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing animated film of all-time. For her performance in the aforementioned movies, Idina walked away with BTVA People’s Choice Voice Acting Awards, OFTA Film Award, and Teen Choice Award. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in November 2019.
Menzel additionally played a recurring role in another mega-hit musical project, Glee that earned $2.83 million from ad revenue per half-hour in 2012, thus, becoming the fourth-highest revenue earning show of the year. In her music career, Idina Menzel’s most successful song yet is ‘Let It Go’ – original music she wrote and performed in Frozen which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, and Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Original Song.
‘Let It Go’ has since been certified 8-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Also, her fourth album ‘Holiday Wishes’ (2014) sold over 350 copies in the US and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Currently, the actress cum singer sits on a net worth of $16 million which is expected to increase over the coming years.
Idina Was Previously Married To Taye Diggs
Idina Menzel met popular actor, Taye Diggs on the musical Broadway production of Rent, the original version which was produced in 1996 and they must have made some kind of connection while working together on set.
In 2003, the relationship between Idina and Taye had progressed to the point that they finally got married. Their marriage was blossoming and they were madly in love with each other, and despite their very busy schedules and frequent travels away from each other, they always found a way to communicate and stoke their love fire. The couple was blessed with their first child in 2009; a son they named Walker Nathaniel Diggs. In 2013, the couple announced via their spokesperson that they were separating after 10 years of marriage, with the divorce finalized in 2014.
The Actress Married Aaron Lohr In 2017
Thank you to everyone who helped make my wedding day so special. pic.twitter.com/6ENbV3NzWw
— Idina Menzel (@idinamenzel) September 25, 2017
Idina and her now-husband Aaron Lohr first met in 2005 on the set of the film adaptation of Rent and soon after her divorce from Taye Diggs, the two made their first outing as a couple when they graced the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April 2015 and have been together since then. Menzel publicized her engagement to Aaron on her Twitter handle in September 2016 and a year later, she tweeted pictures of their wedding, citing that she married the love of her life in a magical wedding ceremony that took place at their Los Angeles home over the weekend.
The cute couple have worked together in some projects professionally as Aaron collaborated with his comely wife in her single ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ from her Christmas album released in 2019.
Her Actor Husband, Aaron Lohr Is Equally Successful
Great night out with my husband AaronLohr celebrating @RocktoRecovery and his work with @AvalonMalibu & @NewVistaBH very inspiring. pic.twitter.com/951LukCDnm
— Idina Menzel (@idinamenzel) December 24, 2017
Menzel’s husband is an actor and singer who has also made worthwhile contributions in the medical field through his work as a Clinical Director of Avalon Malibu Residential Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Center. He also works as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Lohr was born in Los Angeles, California on April 7th, 1976, and studied Theater at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He later furthered his education at Phillips Graduate University where he obtained a Master’s degree in Psychology and equally achieved another Master’s degree but this time in Criminal Justice from John Jay College. He began his career in entertainment by appearing in music videos and commercials before featuring in the TV series, St. Elsewhere in 1985.
He has gone on to score roles in Bustin’ Loose (1987-88), Family Matters (1990), Newsies (1992), Sister, Sister (1994-97), Law & Order (2005), Noise (2007), Blue Bloods (2011), The Mentalist (2012), Zoe Gone (2014), and A Change of Heart (2017).