Michelle Nicastro

Michelle Nicastro (March 31, 1960 – November 4, 2010) was an American actress and singer.

Life and career[edit]

Nicastro was born in Washington D.C., the daughter of Carole Rose (née Guarino) and Norman Joseph Nicastro, who was an ophthalmologist.^[1]

She provided the speaking voice of the adult Princess Odette, the titular character in The Swan Princess and its first two sequels The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain and The Swan Princess III: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure.

She also did the singing voice of Callisto for the Xena: Warrior Princess episode "The Bitter Suite". She also had guest starring roles in Airwolf, Knight Rider and Wings.

She appeared, briefly, as the college sweetheart of Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally.... In 1996, she played Snow White in Coach episode "Grimmworld" as the girlfriend of Michael "Dauber" Daubinski (Bill Fagerbakke). Nicastro also had a minor role in Full House as Roxanna. She also played Lois "Old Lady" Scranton on an episode of Who's the Boss?. From September 1989 to May 1990, she appeared as singer Sasha Schmidt on Santa Barbara during one of its Daytime-Emmy-award-winning years.^[2]

On the stage, she created the role of Ariadne in the 1983 Broadway musical Merlin. She was the first Éponine in the second United States tour of Les Misérables in 1988. Nicastro recorded four albums released on the Varese Sarabande label. Two albums, Toonful and Toonful Too, feature songs from animated musicals, Reel Imagination features songs from family musicals, and On My Own features songs from contemporary Broadway musicals, including her version of On My Own. They feature Paul Goldberg on drums and percussion, Walt Fowler on trumpet, Jimmy Hoff on bass, and Lanny Meyers piano/arranger.^{[citation needed]}

Death[edit]

Nicastro died of cancer on November 4, 2010, at home with her family.^[3] She was 50 years old. "For the Good of Our Country", an episode of The Event that originally aired November 15 the same year, is dedicated to her memory. The pilot episode of Fairly Legal, originally aired January 20, 2011, was dedicated to her memory and a character in the series Judge David Nicastro (played by Gerald McRaney) is named after her. Both series were executive produced by her husband Steve Stark. ^{[citation needed]}

Partial filmography[edit]

• Body Rock (1984) - Darlene
• Knight Rider (1985) - "Circus Knights" - Terry Major
• Bad Guys (1986) - Janice Edwards
• Full House (1987) - "Sea Cruise" - Roxanna
• When Harry Met Sally... (1989) - Amanda (cameos)
• The Swan Princess (1994) - Princess Odette (as an adult; speaking voice)
• Coach (1996) - Mary Beth (as Dauber's girlfriend - episode: "Grimworld")
• Wings (1996) - Ariel Reed (as Antonio's dream girl - episode: "The Lady Vanishes")
• The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain (1997) - Princess Odette (voice; speaking and singing)
• The Swan Princess III: The Mystery of the Enchanted Treasure (1998) - Princess Odette (voice; speaking and singing)
• Aladdin and the Adventure of All Time (2000) - Queen Cleopatra

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Michelle Nicastro at IMDb
• Michelle Nicastro at the Internet Broadway Database
• Fan site with commentary on her roles
• Find a Grave