Andrea McArdle is an American singer and actress.

She was born in Philadelphia on November 5, 1963. While studying dance as a child, she was spotted by a talent agent who got her work in a number of television commercials, which lead to her two-and-a-half year stint on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow.

McArdle's big break came in early 1977 when she was pulled from the chorus to replace the star in the Broadway musical Annie during rehearsals. The show was a critical and commercial smash, and she became the youngest performer ever to be nominated for a Tony Award as Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She lost to co-star Dorothy Louden , but did receive the Theater World and Outer Critics' Circle Awards for her performance. In April 1978, she opened in London's West End production.

Her first assignment after returning to the States was the plum role of Judy Garland in NBC's telepic Rainbow , but throughout her career she has concentrated primarily on performing in musical theater and cabarets. Her credits include Les Misérables (both on Broadway and in the national tour), Jerry's Girls (a revue of Jerry Herman songs co-starring Carol Channing and Leslie Uggams) Beauty and the Beast, Starlight Express, Meet Me In St. Louis, They're Playing Our Song , and another celebrated Annie in Irving Berlin's classic, Annie Get Your Gun.

McArdle has performed in the showrooms of many of the casino hotels in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, and in cabarets such as Odette's in New Hope, Pennsylvania and the King Cole Room at the St. Regis Hotel and Freddy's Supper Club in Manhattan.

By the time Annie came to the big screen in 1982, McArdle was far too old to play the part. Misdirected by John Huston, a name not usually associated with musicals, the film was a lumbering disaster and a critical and commercial failure. She had the opportunity to appear in a cameo role when a far superior version later was made for television.

Her CD, Andrea McArdle on Broadway, was arranged and produced by her husband, composer Edd Kalehoff , who also collaborated with her on an album of Christmas songs that was released in conjunction with her Family Christmas Show at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. The couple has one daughter, Alexis, a performer who has appeared with her mother in Les Miz.