June Angela facts for kids

June Angela is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is best known for playing Julie. Julie was a main member of the Short Circus band. This band was featured on the PBS children's TV show The Electric Company. June Angela was on the show for all six years it aired.

Early Life and Beginnings

June Angela has a mixed background. Her family comes from Italy and Japan. Her father met her mother in Osaka, Japan, after the Korean War. When she was a child, June learned to speak Japanese. She spoke it when visiting her mother's family. However, she later forgot the language.

June started performing in plays and shows when she was very young. Her younger brother also worked as a child actor. A friend of her mother's encouraged June to try modeling. She even played a live version of the "Jan Doll" for a Remco toy commercial.

Starring on The Electric Company

June Angela grew up while working on The Electric Company. She played the character Julie. She said she named her character Julie after her favorite actress, Julie Andrews. In 1976, June received an Emmy of Honor award for her work on the show. She also sang on The Electric Company soundtrack album from 1971. This album won a Grammy Award.

Amazing Career Highlights

After The Electric Company finished, June Angela continued her acting career. She became a regular on the first Asian American TV comedy series. It was called Mr. T and Tina on ABC. On this show, she and her brother played the children of actor Pat Morita.

June has worked a lot in both theater and television. A big moment in her career was being nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award. These are very important awards for theater. She was nominated for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Shogun: The Musical.

In 2017, June Angela starred in a play called Yohen. She played the wife of actor Danny Glover. This play was performed at East West Players in Los Angeles. She also appeared on the ABC TV show Fresh Off the Boat. On that show, she played Madame Xing, a psychic.

June also co-starred with Yul Brynner in the Broadway and London revival of The King and I in 1977. She has been in many new plays for the first time. These include Sayonara and Cambodia Agonistes. For her role in Velina Hasu Houston's play Tea, she won a Theater Guild Award. This was for Best Lead Actress.

On television, she also starred with Cloris Leachman and Pat Morita again. This was in a TV drama called Blind Alleys. Later, she went to Kyoto, Japan, to film a TV movie. It was called American Geisha (CBS).

June has had many other TV roles. She was on Mad TV, Nightingale, ER, Step By Step, Hannah Montana, and Dexter. She was also part of the Emmy Award-winning special Free to be You and Me. Many famous people were in that special.

June Angela has also done a lot of voice acting. Her voice can be heard in the Emmy Award-winning series The Big Blue Marble. She also voiced characters in Nickelodeon's The Wild Thornberrys and Danny Phantom. For Walt Disney Studios' English version of Kiki's Delivery Service, she voiced a character and helped write the song "Soaring."

June Angela made her solo singing debut at a very young age. She was only 10 years old. She sang as Flora in Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw. This was with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. Later, June released her own solo album. It features songs from shows she has been in. It also includes music from The Electric Company and jazz songs.

In 2006, June Angela and other cast members of The Electric Company were interviewed. These included Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno. They were interviewed for The Best of The Electric Company DVD.

June Angela was once levitated on top of the World Trade Center. This was done by magician Doug Henning. It was called the "highest levitation in the world." A photo of this event was on the cover of The Electric Company Magazine in June 1976.

She has also recorded more than 40 audiobooks. Many of these are for children. She uses different character voices for them on Audible.

Selected TV Shows