Lucy Escott was an American soprano and actor-manager who found success in her native country but who had an even greater success in Europe and the United Kingdom. She spent eight years in Australia with the opera company of W. S. Lyster.

An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used consistently since the 16th century, particularly common in 19th-century Britain and the United States.