About She Used to Be Mine

Jessica Ruth Mueller (born February 20, 1983) is an American actress and singer. She started her acting career in Chicago and won two Joseph Jefferson Awards in 2008 and 2011 for her roles as Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel and Amalia Balash in She Loves Me. In 2011, she moved to New York City to star in a Broadway revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. She won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She went on to receive two additional Best Actress Tony Award nominations for her leading roles in Waitress (2016) and the Broadway revival of Carousel (2018).

Mueller was born to actors, Jill (née Shellabarger) and Roger Mueller, and was raised in Evanston, Illinois. Her brothers, Andrew and Matt, and sister, Abby, are all actors and known for their work in Chicago, off-Broadway, and Broadway productions. As of 2019, three of the four Mueller siblings had appeared in Broadway productions. Mueller is Lutheran. She graduated from Evanston Township High School in 2001 and from Syracuse University in 2005.

After graduation, Mueller returned to Chicago and acted for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, traveling in 2006 to England to perform at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon as Lady Mortimer in Henry IV. She followed this with various roles in the Chicago area including Lizzie Fields in Baby, Once Upon a Mattress as the Lady-In Waiting, and Esther in Meet Me in St. Louis. At the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois, she performed roles in Shout! The Mod Musical, Shenandoah, Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, and Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof. In 2009 Mueller performed in two musicals at the Goodman Theatre, Animal Crackers as Grace/Mary and A Christmas Carol as Belle/Catherine.