Lindsay Mendez

“I've worked with incredible people that have set amazing examples for me.”

“The first time I didn't get called back at an audition, I cried. My mom told me, 'We're doing this for fun, and if it's not fun anymore, we're not going to do it. So if you ever cry again, we're going to stop.' I never cried from then on, and I kept that lesson for the rest of my life.”

“I have a major love for musical theatre, including a lot of stuff I don't get to do very often.”

“With 'Wicked,' I was stepping into a role that I didn't make so that felt like I had more boundaries then I did with 'Carousel.'”

“I teach a lot of young musical theatre actors, and I notice that a lot of them say that they have a harder time connecting the classic repertoire.”

“I've always had a big voice, but I'm very aware of when you need to belt or go all out like that - when it's necessary and plot driven - as opposed to just screaming to scream, which I hate.”

“I loved 'The Wizard of Oz,' and I'm a huge Judy Garland fan, too.”

“I'm a Mexican girl from California, and I never grew up thinking I could be in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. I didn't really see myself in that. Not that I didn't grow up loving Rodgers and Hammerstein, but I don't know - I just never put myself there.”

“I loved working on 'Dogfight,' but when I first read it and wrapped my head around the story, I was a little horrified.”

“I started taking voice when I was six and dance classes every day - I just couldn't get enough.”

“I've never been a bridesmaid.”

“People learn from their mistakes and move forward.”

“I was born in Southern California in a city called Norwalk. I grew up there until I moved up to New York when I was 18.”

“I think it's important to play real people.”

“I love my body. I love representing people who aren't stick figures, because people aren't.”

“I am not a beauty queen, and I was not the popular girl in high school.”

“As I became an adult, I listened to a lot of jazz, to the ladies of jazz, Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae and Nina Simone. I loved that they each covered the same songs and interpreted them totally differently. I thought that was so cool. They could each paint their own picture of that moment.”

“'Dogfight' is my favorite thing I've ever worked on. It's such a special piece, and I'm so close to the character of Rose. I loved doing it every night.”

“I did 'The Sound of Music.' That was my first musical.”

“Even though acting is my job, I do this because I love it, and when the love is gone, I'm not going to do it anymore.”