My Eternal WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday)

A woman with great dignity, class, artistic ability and achievement, Julie Andrews tops the list of the select few actresses that I deeply revere.  Throughout her 70-year career that is still thriving, Dane Andrews has become a multi-faceted icon and role model for aspiring actresses and singers.

Starting off as a young girl in the UK singing with her parents in the evenings, Andrews was a long way off from American silver screen fame. She appeared on stage for most of her young life at the London Hippodrome, the London Palladium, and the West End Theatre as well appearing on the BBC.  She made her debut on Broadway when she was 19 in The Boy Friend, a show that she recently revived and directed in 2003. “By the end of 1967, Andrews was the world's most successful film star. She had appeared in the most-watched television special Cinderella; the biggest Broadway musical of its time, My Fair Lady; the largest-selling long-playing album, the original cast recording of My Fair Lady; the biggest hit in Disney's history, Mary Poppins; the highest grossing movie of 1966, Hawaii; the biggest and second biggest hits in Universal's history, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Torn Curtain; and the biggest in 20th Century Fox's history, The Sound of Music.” Along with such prestige and fame, Dame Andrews has won numerous awards for her acting and singing. Just a few of her numerous honors are the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Actress in Mary Poppins, her Golden Globe for Best Actress in The Sound of Music, and her Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Screen Actors Guild, the UCLA George and Ira Gershwin Award, and the Grammys.

Although her immense success as a youth has waned in recent years, Ms. Andrews’ work will always remain iconic and awe inspiring. She is currently focused on her philanthropic work and is constantly working with the United Nations International Fund for Women, Operation USA – an international relief agency, Save the Children, and the Foundation for Hereditary Disease. To the youth of this century, she is most recognized as Queen Clarisse in The Princess Diaries movies, the voice of the queen in the Shrek series, and Lily in The Tooth Fairy.

I admire Dame Andrews primarily because of her versatility and immense talent. It amazes me than in the span of her life she has been both a theatre and film actress, a singer with perfect pitch and a four-octave range, a comedian, a voice-over actress, a director, a philanthropist, a Dame Commander of the British Empire and a best selling author of children’s books. To me, she is a fitting example of a real and tangible woman who, despite her human faults, has made history out of her successes. No negative connotation follows a name like hers because she has always made wise choices in her career that allow her to have fun and try new things while maintaining a wholesome and positive persona. I feel as though Julie Andrews is a lot like me. My biggest love is singing, I enjoy theatre and comedy immensely, and writing is one of my strongest attributes. I just hope that wherever my life takes me, and if I do decide to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, that I can have a flourishing and iconic career like that of Julie Andrews.

You can learn more about this amazing lady here and make your next movie night a Julie marathon!