Riza Takahashi is a New York based actor turned producer working on and off Broadway. Riza is currently working as an Assistant Producer at Tom Kirdahy Productions.
Originally from Itami, a town outside the city limits of Osaka in Japan, Riza fell in love with musical theatre at a young age. The idea of someday performing on Broadway quickly became an all-encompassing dream. After years of hard work and exhausting all the performing opportunities in her hometown, she realized if she wanted to make her dream a reality she would have to learn English and eventually make her way to North America.
At the age of 16 she said goodbye to her family in Japan and landed in Langley, British Colombia. She was accepted into a Canadian Performing Arts High School where she taught herself English and was able to concentrate on her training. After high school, she went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre from The Hartt School in Connecticut.
Her favorite regional credits since then include The MUNY, TUTS, Music Theatre of Wichita, 5th Avenue Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, and the National Theatre in Washington DC, where she originated the role of “Sophie Kawachi” in the out of town tryout for “Mean Girls.”
Her dream of being on Broadway came true with her role “Sophie Kawachi” in the ensemble of “Mean Girls” at the August Wilson theatre. With a book by Tina Fey, and directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, she couldn’t ask for a more incredible Broadway debut!
During the pandemic, she started an online lesson platform Broadway to Japan for anyone in Japan who's pursuing theater. She offers private voice lessons that are unique to the artists in Japan and provide career consultation in hopes to be the bridge for the young Japanese artists to achieve their dream in the US.
The pandemic also prompted her to start producing and she produced an original Music Video "I Choose Joy" celebrating diversity on Broadway. Soon after this production, she was selected as one of the cohort for a commercial producing course taught by Theater Producers of Color and went on to study commercial producing on Broadway. With the team at TPOC, she made her Co Producing debut on A Beautiful Noise and Kinky Boots Off Broadway. After completing the course, she landed a job at one of the most prestigious commercial theater company at Tom Kirdahy Productions as an Assistant Producer and now works on numerous productions on and off Broadway.
She is a proud Japanese with a great love and appreciation for her homeland! It remains a part of her to the core and her mission is to be a key person and a bridge between Japanese theater industry and Broadway.
高橋リーザ（RIZA TAKAHASHI）
兵庫県伊丹市出身。ハートフォード大学ミュージカル科学士取得。
ミュージカル「夢から醒めた夢」をきっかけに、将来はブロードウェイの舞台に立つと決意し、4歳から地元のミュージカルスクールに通い始める。中学卒業まで日本でミュージカルを学び、高校は英語習得のため、カナダへ留学。大学はアメリカの大学のミュージカル科へ進学。卒業後、アメリカ国内で「マンマミーア！」や「コーラスライン」など多くの作品に出演したのち、夢を追ってオーディションを受け続け、2018年に『Mean Girls（ミーン・ガールズ）』オリジナルキャストに唯一の日本人俳優として抜擢。 念願のブロードウェイデビューを果たし、2年間800公演以上出演する。
パンデミックでブロードウェイが閉鎖している間には、日本でミュージカル俳優を目指す若者をサポートするためオンラインレッスンプログラム「Broadway to Japan」を立ち上げ、後世の育成にも力を入れる。また、パンデミック中アメリカ全土を取り巻いていたアジアンヘイトクライム(アジア人憎悪犯罪)に一石を投ずるためCelebrate Asian Joyプロジェクトを発足。アジア系ブロードウェイ俳優仲間を集め、自身がMVのプロデュース、監督、出演を勤めた作品「I CHOOSE JOY」をYouTubeでリリース。ブロードウェイの多様性を讃えたオリジナルMVは在NY日本領事館のサポートもありNew York International Film Awardsを受賞する。
その後、Theater Producers of Color：ブロードウェイプロデューサー育成プログラムに選出され、プロデュース業を学んだのち「キンキーブーツ」、「ビューティフルノイズ」のCo Producerとしてのブロードウェイデビューも果たす。これをきっかけにプロデューサー業の道へ進むことを決意。現在はプロデューサーTom Kirdahy (代表作：「アナスタシア」、「ハデスタウン」、「リトルショップオブホラーズ」など）の元でアシスタントプロデューサーとしてブロードウェイ作品の制作に携わっている。