Hey, it’s a Fish in a barrel…DON’T SHOOT! Yes, “Fish” is one of my MANY nicknames. Other gems include Rex, Chicken, and Rats. True Story.
From her blue-collar beginnings indefatigable Angie had a vision of fabulosity. The epiphany struck as she sat rapt in the mystery of a dark movie theatre, sheltered from the roaring racetrack of Indianapolis, Indiana. Nestled in the maw of a red cushioned seat Angie marveled at the image of a little red headed girl with a dog, searching for home and singing that the sun would come out tomorrow. Angie whispered, “I can do that. I will do that. I know what I want to be.” The goal of course was not to be an orphan, that was just a metaphor. The goal was to be an artist and entertainer: she would make people laugh and cry their asses off and they would cease to be so pissed off all the time.
Angie’s wish immediately began to manifest. In a Fairy Godmother-like move, public school music teacher Mrs. Holmes recognized the girl’s spark and plopped her in front of a microphone to start belting showtunes at the fearless age of five. Audiences exclaimed then as they do now, “How did that big voice come out of that little body?!” Pink plastic boom box at her side Angie practiced with devotion, dreaming of staging a concert from the moon to be broadcast to the world. She would accept the terms of singing in a spacesuit, because she adored astronomy and thought being an astronaut would be a decent side job. There was also the distinct possibility of moonlighting as an explorer a la Indiana Jones. She felt so safe in museums and libraries and craved the adventure of excavating stories from history and bringing them to life; an urge which led to an insatiable love of Shakespeare.
Her enthusiasm for emulating and interpreting the stylings of the entertainment greats was ceaseless. Equipped with dozens of cable channels and a powerful VCR, she archived only the most hilarious programming for the purposes of exhaustive repetition and memorization. There wasn’t a line from Caddyshack, Clue, or the entirety of the Saturday Night Live cannon which she couldn’t recite. She boggled the senses of relatives and neighbor kids with re-enactments of Madonna videos, Dirty Dancing numbers, and Pee-wee’s Playhouse gags. Rather than observing bedtime, she stayed up on school nights to sneak a rendezvous in her room with Mr. Johnny Carson at an extremely low volume on a small black and white TV which obscured the brilliance of his classy rainbow curtain. She admits to maintaining a lifelong obsession with Natalie Wood, as well as popping Smarties as “happy pills” when convincing people she was just like Judy Garland. Her first genuine crush was on Bill Murray. The second was reserved for Sidney Poitier. Her fondest family memory invokes a Thanksgiving Day tradition of listening to Steve Martin routines during early morning bird prep, inevitably leading to a rousing chorus of “Put a live chicken in your underwear!” She was, in unequivocal terms, a dork.
Her young hopes were housed in an outrageously prematurely blooming body. “I’m not sure if you’re a girl trapped in a woman’s body or a woman trapped in a girl’s body,” puzzled one theatre director. In her quest for mature self expression Angie was often sent home from elementary school for not wearing enough clothes. It wasn’t a big deal to run home and quick-change her costume because she was a walker. Angie didn’t ride a bus until later when she was accepted into performing arts programs for junior high and high school. In fact, she graduated from the same high school as David Letterman. While she anticipates this to be a quirky talking point when first she is interviewed by the late night giant, she’ll probably have to accomplish more than that to get booked on his show… or at least get her cats to. Like her famous fellow alumnus, Angela eventually fled her Indiana home for New York, attending Ithaca College to study Opera and Acting. The liberal mindset and natural beauty of the Finger Lakes town suited her just fine. This was, after all, where hero and genius Carl Sagan spent his latter years. Honoring his legacy of totally blowing people’s minds, Angela experimented with things she had never even heard of. She was grateful for the quality education, and to be the first in her family to graduate college.
The “little ingenue that could” persevered and life in show business has led her all over the country. She struggled in New York City for a while, building a good tough skin. She fell in love with her husband Michael at a Shakespeare Festival in Cincinnati. The couple blossomed in a community of lifelong friends while working in Memphis, Tennessee. They forged ahead to Chicago where each evolved into an entertainment force to reckoned with. Now the journey has landed Angela in the entertainment capitol of the world, Los Angeles, California. She and her husband are quite happy in sunny Studio City. Somedays she sees a rainbow stretch wide over Hollywood, just like at the end of The Muppet Movie. This feels like home. So watch your asses because this irrepressible pixie is primed to take the world by storm.
Angela Ingersoll recently relocated to Los Angeles with her husband, Michael Ingersoll. She writes and performs comedy, appearing at Second City Hollywood, IO West, Hollywood Improv, and Upright Citizen’s Brigade. She is also a member of The Groundlings School. Angela lit up your color television set as the jingle-singing sweetheart in retro commercials for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and tickled the interwebs as the pop vocal impressionist behind College Humor’s “3 Pop Stars, 1 Song.”
Angela is a two-time nominee of Chicago’s Jeff Award for Outstanding Actress for her performances as Anais Nin in The Mistress Cycle (Apple Tree Theatre and Auditorium Theatre) and Martha in The Secret Garden (Porchlight Music Theatre). Other Chicago credits include Lady Anne in Richard III, Luciana in The Comedy Of Errors, a Witch in Macbeth, Riley in the original cast of How Can You Run With A Shell OnYour Back? (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Jennifer in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre); and Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (Light Opera Works). She is a member of Actor’s Equity.
Regional credits include Julie Jordan in Carousel (Madison Repertory Theatre); Cathy in The Last Five Years (Champ Auditorium); four Ostrander Awards for Outstanding Actress as Belle in Disney’s Beauty & The Beast, Lucy Harris in Jekyll & Hyde, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Shelley in Bat Boy: The Musical; two Ostrander Nominations for Outstanding Actress as Aldonza in Man Of La Mancha, and Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime; also Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz, Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story, Carla in Nine, Curley’s Wife in Of Mice And Men, Adele in A Man Of No Importance, Millie in Picnic, Holly in Anton in Show Business, Twirler in Talking With…, Wendy in Peter Pan, Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web, and Jennifer in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Playhouse on the Square, Memphis); Enquirer Award Nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress as Thomasina in Arcadia, also Olivia in Twelfth Night, Phebe in As You Like It, and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); Dead Man Walking (Cincinnati Opera); Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (Kitchen Theatre Company); and Desdemona in Othello (Expanded Arts, Off-Off Broadway.)
Concert and staged reading appearances include appearances with Dan Holmes Group, Under The Streetlamp, Steppin’ Out with Michael Ingersoll; Monday Nights New Voices Series with composers Andrew Lippa, Michael Mahler, and Alan Schmuckler; originating the role of Riley in How Can You Run With A Shell OnYour Back? and Lucinda in The History Of Cardenio (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Anne Boleyn/Elizabeth in Rex with composer Sheldon Harnick (Stages Festival); and Liz in High Fidelity (Route 66 Theatre Company).
Television credits include national commercials for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Georgia Boot, and First Tennessee Bank. She also records voice overs for television, radio, video games, and internet media. Clients include Electronic Arts, Paramount Theme Parks, and Time Warner Cable. Additionally, she enjoys frequenting sporting events as a National Anthem Soloist, appearing for the NBA and NCAA.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY. Educational credits include Little Red in Into The Woods, Toinette in The Imaginary Invalid, Joan in Sexual Perversity In Chicago, Ruth in The Woods, and Julia in Dark Rapture, as well as staged readings as Joan in Saint Joan, Cressida in Troilus & Cressida, Waitress/Nurse in A New Brain, and Joanne in Company.
Her hometown is Indianapolis, Indiana where she attended performing arts junior high and high schools, studying theatre and vocal music. Favorite early educational credits include Marian in The Music Man and Catharine in Pippin. A member of the Annie generation, she began singing publicly at the age of five. Her first professional acting gig was at age fifteen as Mary Warren in The Crucible (Civic Theatre), followed by Aggie in Grapes Of Wrath (Edyvean Repertory Theatre); Luciana in The Comedy Of Errors (Indianapolis Shakespeare in the Park). She appeared in staged readings as Eleanor Roosevelt in Totty: Young Eleanor Roosevelt and Geneva in And The Tide Shall Cover The Earth (Indiana Repertory Theatre); and as a concert soloist with Carmel Symphony Orchestra as Maria in West Side Story. As a teenager she was awarded Honorable Mentions in both Theatre and Music from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, a Prelude Award for Acting, was a finalist for the National Shakespeare Competition, and attended the Northwestern University Cherubs Program for Theatre.