Leighton Quinn (actress)

Leighton Claire Quinn (born March 29, 1991), known professionally as Leighton Quinn, is a English actress and musical theatre actress. Quinn began working professionally as an actress on Broadway in productions such as Ragtime and Les Misérables. She originated the role of Andie in War Horse, Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked. Quinn currently plays Emily Fields in the CW television series Lost Girl. Quinn performs in the mezzo-soprano range.

Early Life
Leighton Quinn was born in Paris to Mary Luesby, a lawyer and Marc Quinn, a doctor. Quinn has one French grandmother from her maternal side of the family, while her paternal side has one Spanish grandmother. She lived in Paris until the age of five before moving back to Oxfordshire.

Broadway
From the age of six, Quinn had wanted to become an actress,and for a number of years she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting. By the age of ten, she had performed in various Stagecoach productions and school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince,but she had never performed professionally before her Broadway debut in 2003. While vacationing in New York City at the age of 12 years, Quinn auditioned and earned the role of Little Girl in the 2003 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. After her Broadway debut, Quinn traveled back and forth between New York City and Oxford for both her schooling and Broadway activities.

She played and originated the role of Andie in Nick Stafford’s West End and Broadway adaptations of War Horse, in 2005 at the age of 14. In 2008, she was played the role of Eponine in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables and the show ended in 2009. She later featured in Rent as the original feature character Maureen, a lesbian performance artiste. Quinn won the Tony Award for Best Feature Actress for the role. Following that, Quinn originated the role of Elphaba for the Broadway musical ''Wicked. After Wicked'' ended, she was offered the original role of Wendla for Broadway’s adaptation of Spring Awakening, however Quinn turned it down in favor of other plans. It was later revealed that she had auditioned and accepted the role of Emily Fields for Hollywood's CW television series Lost Girl which started airing in 2010.

When she was 16 years old, Quinn moved to New York City and completed her remaining British education schooling under special circumstances. When she accepted the role on Lost Girls, she travels and stays in Hollywood for the duration of filming, and returning to New York City for the remaining times. Quinn is currently a student in Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Television and other work
Quinn stars in the CW television series Lost Girl, where she plays the demigod, Emily Fields. This is Quinn’s first role on television.

Broadway
Ragtime as the Little Girl (2003-2004)

War Horse as Andie (2005-2007)

Les Misérables as Eponine (2008-2009)

Rent as Maureen (2009)

Wicked as Elphaba (2009-2010)

Television
Lost Girl as Emily Fields (2010-present) recurring character (2010); series regular (2011-present)