Veanne Cox
About
Biography
Filmography
Notes
"Playing a character both dressed in and written in shocking pink, Cox keeps the play on an entrancing coffee buzz even when you begin to suspect it's just going in circles. She's like a neon exclamation point, flashing rage, arrogance and neurotic agony in equal measures, particularly during her daunting (and overlong) opening aria, aimed at a lump under her Ralph Lauren sheets that she takes to be her boyfriend Ethan." --From Charles Isherwood's review of "The Altruists" in Variety (March 19, 2000)
On her success in the theater, Cox told InTheater (November 22, 1997): "I credit it to being the luckiest woman in the world. Still, though, I've been around her forever. It's about time I got some of the choicer morsels."
Biography
A versatile, red-haired actress and singer, Veanne Cox has been impressing NYC theater audiences since her 1986 debut as the pageant winner in the ill-fated stage musical "Smile." The Virginia native joined the Washington Ballet Company right out of high school but left the dance world behind when she landed her first acting role as a princess in a short film. To celebrate her 21st birthday, Cox moved to Manhattan and opted to pursue an acting career. She soon landed roles in several Off-Off-Broadway productions and parts in TV commercials helped foot the bills until what should have been her break in "Smile." The 1986 musical based on the 1975 satirical movie boasted an impressive creative lineup (Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Ashman) but the show just didn't click with audiences. The following year, though, Cox did find a vehicle suitable to showcasing her talent, the Off-Broadway revival of "Flora, the Red Menace." While some might have been daunted at taking on a role so identified with an icon (Liza Minnelli had scored in the original), Cox managed to make the part her own.
Hollywood came calling and Cox made her film debut as Tessy, "the ugliest girl in Yazoo City" who works as a beauty contest coordinator in "Miss Firecracker" (1989). She remained on the West Coast and worked in TV and commercials as well as theatrical productions. In 1993 at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera, Cox played the jittery bride Amy in "Company" (which co-starred Carol Burnett) and stopped the show with her delivery of the patter song "Getting Married Today."
Following a memorable turn as a heckler in an episode of NBC's "Seinfeld," Cox returned to the Great White Way once again as Amy in the Roundabout revival of "Company" featuring Boyd Gaines which garnered her a Tony nomination. She went on to replace Hope Davis in Nicky Silver's "The Food Chain" and garnered raves as an exuberant patient in a doctor's office in "The Waiting Room" (1996). In David Rabe's topical drama "A Question of Mercy," she delivered a nice turn as a stoic and supportive friend to a gay couple struggling with the issue of euthanasia.
Cox was tapped to play one of the wicked stepsisters in the nontraditionally cast "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella" (ABC, 1997) before tackling "The Batting Cage," in which she offered a deft portrayal of a loquacious woman recently separated from her husband. She originated the role of Yvette in the California premiere of Neil Simon's "The Dinner Party" in 1999 and then went on to tackle other roles before recreating that part on Broadway in fall 2000. On the big screen, Cox was terrific as a buttoned-up by-the-book lawyer in "Erin Brockovich" and an obnoxious gallery owner in the festival-screened "Big Eden." She briefly returned to Off-Broadway in Nicky Silver's play "The Altruists" in spring 2000, about urban do-gooders. When "The Dinner Party" finally opened on Broadway (with some cast changes), Cox earned good notices as an intensely neurotic woman with ties to a used-car salesman played by Henry Winkler.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1984
Moved to New York at age 21 (date approximate)
1986
Broadway debut as a beauty contestant in the musical version of "Smile"
1987
Had lead in the Off-Broadway revival of the musical "Flora, the Red Menace" at the Vineyard Theatre
1989
Feature film debut in "Miss Firecracker"
1993
Co-starred in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Wendy Wasserstein's "Isn't It Romantic"
1993
First time playing Amy, the jittery bride in "Company", performed at Long Beach Civic Light Opera
1994
Played a heckler at a comedy club in an episode of NBC's "Seinfeld"
1995
Again performed Amy in the revival of "Company"; received a Tony Award nomination
1996
Garnered rave reviews for her performance in Lisa Loomer's "The Waiting Room" at the Vineyard Theatre
1997
Acted in "Henry Fool", directed by Hal Hartley
1997
Had lead in the well-received "The Batting Cage" at Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre
1997
Appeared in "A Question of Mercy", a play by David Rabe
1997
Was featured in the ABC TV remake "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella"
1998
Acted in the Off-Broadway play "Labor Day" by A.R. Gurney
1999
Was featured in the L.A. premiere of Neil Simon's "The Dinner Party"; reprised role in Broadway production in 2000
2000
Played a buttoned up lawyer in "Erin Brockovich"
2000
Made an impression as a gallery owner in the festival-screened independent film "Big Eden"
2000
Returned to the Vineyard Theatre to co-star in "The Altruists"
Bibliography
Notes
"Playing a character both dressed in and written in shocking pink, Cox keeps the play on an entrancing coffee buzz even when you begin to suspect it's just going in circles. She's like a neon exclamation point, flashing rage, arrogance and neurotic agony in equal measures, particularly during her daunting (and overlong) opening aria, aimed at a lump under her Ralph Lauren sheets that she takes to be her boyfriend Ethan." --From Charles Isherwood's review of "The Altruists" in Variety (March 19, 2000)
On her success in the theater, Cox told InTheater (November 22, 1997): "I credit it to being the luckiest woman in the world. Still, though, I've been around her forever. It's about time I got some of the choicer morsels."
"My mission in life is to make people laugh, and I think I can do that well. I just want to be a great lady of the stage, but how do you get to that?" --Veanne Cox quoted in InTheater, November 22, 1997.
