Helen J Shen
Early Life
Shen was born and raised in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, New Jersey to Chinese immigrant parents from Shanghai. Shen graduated from Ridge High School in 2018. She began taking piano lessons at age five and was competing internationally at age eight, a practice she continued through high school, but pivoted to musical theatre performance upon studying at University of Michigan, where she received the Earl V. Moore Award.
Career
In 2022, Shen made her professional stage debut as Kyung-Hwa in Williamstown Theatre Festival's production of Man of God. The next year, she originated the role of JJ in the world premiere of the musical The Lonely Few at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, California. She then appeared off-Broadway in Playwrights Horizons's world premiere of the musical Teeth as Promise Keeper Girl Keke; she left the role later that year reprise her role as JJ in MCC Theater's 2024 New York debut of The Lonely Few. In November 2024, Shen originated the leading female role of Claire in the Broadway production of the musical Maybe Happy Ending, which premiered in Korea in 2016. For her performance in the role, she was nominated for the 2025 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical.
