Karen Olivo is a Tony Award-winning Broadway actress, theater educator, and singer.
Olivo was born in the South Bronx, New York City, and raised in Bartow, Florida. She attended the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in nearby Lakeland, Florida, and later the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music. She left school before her final year to join the original Broadway production of Rent.
Olivo made her Broadway debut in 1996 in Rent, playing the role of Maureen Johnson. She went on to appear in several other Broadway productions, including Brooklyn (2004), In the Heights (2008), and West Side Story (2009). She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Anita in West Side Story.
In 2016, Olivo originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Chicago production of Hamilton. She also starred in the world premiere of Moulin Rouge! The Musical in Boston in 2018, and reprised the role on Broadway in 2019.