Liza Minnelli

Liza May Minnelli (; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer. Best known for her Academy Award-winning portrayal of Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972), she is noted for her energetic stage presence and her powerful contralto singing voice. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli.

Minnelli moved to New York City in the early 1960s and began her career as a musical theatre actress nightclub performer and traditional pop recording artist. She made her professional stage debut in the 1963 Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward. In 1965 she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Flora the Red Menace, still remaining the youngest ever recipient in this category. Flora marked the start of her lifelong collaboration with John Kander and Fred Ebb, who would write, produce or direct many of Minnelli's future stage acts and TV shows. They helped create Minnelli's stage persona of a stylized survivalist, including her career-defining performances of anthems of survival ("New York, New York", "Cabaret", "Maybe This Time").

Critically lauded for her non-musical dramatic performance in the film The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), she rose to international stardom with Cabaret and the Emmy Award-winning TV special Liza with a Z (1972). Most of her following film projects"including Lucky Lady (1975), New York, New York (1977), Rent-a-Cop (1988), Stepping Out (1991)"received mixed to negative reviews and failed commercially, and she had no more major movie hits except the 1981 romantic comedy Arthur. She additionally worked on television, starring several variety musical specials, non-musical films like A Time to Live (1985) and Parallel Lives (1994) and has been an acclaimed guest star in the sitcom Arrested Development between 2003 and 2013. Minnelli successfully returned to Broadway in Kander and Ebb′s The Act (1977) and The Rink (1984) as well as various concert shows including Liza's at The Palace.... in 2008.

From the late 1970s onwards, Minnelli's work has predominantly focused on concert tours and nightclub performances. She gave highly regarded performances at Carnegie Hall in 1979 and 1987, and at Radio City Music Hall in 1991 and 1992. Between 1988 and 1990 she toured alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event. Actually best known for her renditions of pop standards, Minnelli′s albums from 1968 to 1977 contained much of the contemporary singer-songwriter material, and in 1989 she released the electronic pop album Results. In 2014, Out named Minnelli a gay icon in a list titled The 12 Greatest Female Gay Icons of All Time.