Audra Mc Donald

Audra McDonald's talent is unparalleled in its breadth and diversity as a musician, and an actor. Her record-breaking success includes seven Tony Awards two Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award in 2015 she was named among Time magazine's 100 most influential people. She also received the National Medal of Art, which is America's most prestigious award for excellence in the field--from President Barack Obama. She has a home in film, television as well as Broadway. Her luminous soprano will make her an ideal performer on the stage. In addition to her work in the theatre, she is also a prominent performer in the field of recording and concert performer who regularly appears at world's foremost venues. McDonald was born in Fresno California, where she was raised by a family full of musicians. In the Juilliard School in New York City, McDonald received training as an classical vocalist. In 1994, just a few years after her Juilliard School, McDonald was awarded the Tony Award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a musical" for her performance in Carousel. Through the next four-year period, she was awarded two more Tony Awards as a featured actor for her performances in Terrence Mcnally's Broadway debuts Master Class (1996) and Ragtime (1998) which gave her an overall total of three Tony Awards at the age at just 30. In 2004, she was nominated for her fourth Tony Award for her performance in A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Diddy Combs. And in 2012, her five-year old daughter was awarded her first Tony award in the category of Leading Actress when she was the main character as Porgy and Bess in The Gershwins Porgy and Bess. She made Broadway historical records in 2014 when she was the most decorated Tony Award nominee. Her portrayal as Billie Holiday at Emerson's Bar & Grill in the show, that also helped launch her Olivier Award nominated debut on London's West End in 2017, was her sixth Tony Award. Along with setting records for the highest number of awards won by actors in competition, she became the first person to receive distinctions across each of the four acting categories. Her theater credits comprise The Secret Garden (1993) Marie Christine (99) Henry IV (2005) 110 in the Shade (2006) Twelfth Nacht (2009) The Twelfth Night was her Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park premiere Shuffle Along or The Making of the Musical sensation from 1921 & Everything That Followed (2017) Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2018) and Ohio State Murders 2023. McDonald was first introduced to the public via television for her dramatic performance in Peabody Award winning CBS's Having Our Say the Delany Sisters first 100 years. The year 1999 saw her co-starred alongside Kathy Bates in ABC's acclaimed remake of Annie. She also had an recurring role on NBC's Law & Order Special Victims Unit in 2000. After receiving their first Emmy nomination due to her performance in the HBO film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit, which was directed by Mike Nichols and starring Emma Thompson McDonald returned on television network in 2003 on the political drama Mister Sterling, produced by Emmy Award winner Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. and which starred Josh Brolin. She joined The Bedford Diaries' cast on WB's The Bedford Diaries and over the course of the season, she was an recurring role in NBC's TV show Kidnapped. In the year 2016 McDonald received a nomination for a fourth Emmy Award for her appearance in HBO's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar Restaurant & Grill, a movie-special. She starred alongside Taylor Schilling and Steven Pasquale in The Bite a six-episode pandemic-themed drama produced through Spectrum Originals and CBS Studios in 2021. In 2009, she portrayed U.S. Attorney Liz Lawrence on CBS's legal drama The Good Wife. In 2018 McDonald played her character Liz Reddick as a regular in Paramount+'s The Good Fight. She received three Critics Choice Award nods for this performance. She guest stars in Julian Fellowes's historical drama The Gilded Age.