Andrea Prestinario is a queer, award-winning performer and creative producer who is New York City-based and Chicago-grown. Over the last two decades, she has been seen throughout the country in iconic, classical musical theatre roles. She is best known for her work as Alison in Fun Home, both at Baltimore Center Stage and Weston Playhouse; Eliza in My Fair Lady, both at Asolo Repertory, directed by Frank Galati, and at Paramount Theatre Aurora, directed by Jim Corti. Additionally, with the legendary Mr. Galati, Andrea played Martha in his new adaptation of 1776 - a co-production with A.C.T San Francisco and Asolo Repertory Theatre. At the Lyric Opera Chicago, Andrea played Gertie in the Gary Griffin-directed Oklahoma!, which was the inaugural production of the Lyric Opera’s celebrated Rodgers & Hammerstein series. 

Ms. Prestinario began her professional career at age 11 performing in the children’s chorus of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Chicago Theatre (Livent Productions) starring Donny Osmond. 

A Jeff Award-winner for her work as Violet in Side Show at Boho Theatre in Chicago, Andrea was an acclaimed actress in the Chicago theatre community before transplanting to New York. Favorite Chicago credits include Louise in Gypsy at Drury Lane, Maureen in RENT at Paramount Theatre, and Thea in Fiorello! at Timeline Theatre. 

Television credits include roles on “Succession” (HBO) and “Law & Order” (NBC) and over 25 commercial campaigns, both regionally and nationally.

She is the Co-Founder and former Founding Executive Director of Ring of Keys, a 501(c)3 non-profit fostering community and visibility of queer women, trans, and non-binary artists working on and offstage in musical theatre. Ring of Keys strives to kick (ball-change) the closet door open to create a vibrant, diverse musical theatre landscape for the future.

As a creative producer, Andrea is revolutionizing the musical theatre industry through her creation of Queering the Canon, a concert series for Ring of Keys. Ms. Prestinario conceived and produced sMOkeyTOWN: The Songs of Smokey Robinson, her tribute show to Smokey Robinson, which originally debuted as a 60th birthday gift for her father. With musical direction by Ian Weinberger (Hamilton), it played Chicago and NYC from 2014-2019. Andrea is incubating a number of projects in development; most notably Show Me Eternity, a new musical exploring the queer erasure of Emily Dickinson by writers Dillon & Caps.

She is an Artist Ambassador for the NYCLU and serves on the Advisory Board of National Queer Theatre, the Alumni Council for Ball State University’s Department of Theatre & Dance, and as the Board Chair for Ring of Keys.

Andrea is a graduate in Musical Theatre and Gender Studies from Ball State University and a graduate of The School at Steppenwolf, where she studied under the tutelage of such luminaries as Amy Morton, Sheldon Patinkin, Kimberly Senior, Jane Alderman, Jonathan Berry, K. Todd Freeman, and Tim Hopper.

She resides in Harlem with her wife, actress and singer Klea Blackhurst.