Schoenmaker lived during her childhood in Dordrecht, Papendrecht, Etten-Leur, and Miami in Florida. From a very young age, she studied with youth theater schools, including the Brabants Bont Theater in Etten-Leur. Later, she played two seasons in the role of Tessie in Annie and starred in Oliver! and Pinocchio. After obtaining her high school diploma, Schoenmaker studied Liberal Arts for a year at Oxford Brookes University. She chose this broad study because she did not know exactly what she wanted to study. At the end of that year, in April 2008, she played Dorothy in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. She never had singing lessons prior to that time. Once back in the Netherlands, she was admitted to the Fontys Academy of Arts in Tilburg. During the training she played roles in A Little Night Music, The Secret Garden, and Grand Hotel. She was taught by Edward Hoepelman, Ingrid Zeegers, Marc Krone, Roeland Vos, Julia Bless and Danielle Waijers, among others. In April 2012 she completed the music course summa cum laude. In June of that year she was awarded the Jacques de Leeuw Prize, as the most talented student of executive education in the Netherlands. This award is designed to give young, talented artists the opportunity to develop themselves.
Career
During the last year of her training, Schoenmaker was cast in the starring role of Molly Jensen in the Dutch production of Ghost the Musical, alongside Freek Bartels, Ton Sieben and Joanne Telesford. The first performance was to be on 28 August 2012 in the Beatrix Theater, however, the production was delayed indefinitely, which also affected the productions in the West End, Broadway, and the planned Australian production. She moved to London after being cast in the role of Fantine in the West End production of Les Misérables. On 14 January 2013 she replaced Sierra Boggess in the role, making her West End debut. She left the production on 15 June of that year, and was replaced by Na-Young Jeon. On 7 September 2015, Schoenmaker returned to West End in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera as the female lead of Christine Daaé. On 27 September 2016, Schoenmaker performed with Ben Forster in the show's 30th Anniversary performance. Former Phantom stars Michael Ball, Sierra Boggess, and John Owen-Jones made guest appearances in the encore. Schoenmaker was cast as Jenny Lind in the 2017 Off-West End production of Barnum, which opened on 5 December.
Film
In 2019, she appeared as Renate Blauel in the Elton John biopic Rocketman.
