June Angela Profanato (born August 18, 1959) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her best-known role is that of Julie, the mainstay member of the Short Circus band that was featured in the PBS children's television series The Electric Company during its entire six-year run.
Angela is of Italian and Japanese parentage. Her father met her mother in Osaka, Japan, after the Korean War. She learned to speak Japanese as a child, when visiting her mother's relatives, but eventually forgot the language. She started performing in stage productions at an early age. Her younger brother, Gene Profanato, also worked as a child actor.
As Julie, Angela grew up on The Electric Company. She was awarded an Emmy of Honor for her work on the series.[2] Angela sang on the Grammy Award-winning 1971 soundtrack album of The Electric Company as well. Angela said she named her Short Circus character Julie after her idol at the time, Julie Andrews.
When The Electric Company began wrapping production, Angela became a regular on the first Asian American TV comedy series Mr. T and Tina (ABC) where she and her brother played Pat Morita's children. Numerous works in theater and television followed. Most notably she was nominated for Broadway's Tony and Drama Desk Award as Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Shogun: The Musical.