Audra Mc Donald

Audra McDonald's talent is unparalleled by her variety and breadth as a vocalist, and actor. Audra McDonald, winner of the prestigious six Tony Awards in a row and two Grammy Awards in 2015 was listed as one of the Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. The president Barack Obama also awarded her the National Medal of Arts -the most prestigious honor bestowed to Americans for her achievements in this field. A dazzling soprano, and an unrivalled talent of telling the truth in a dramatic manner the actress is just as at ease in Broadway and the opera stage as she is in films or television characters. As well as her theatrical job, she is also pursuing many facets of her career, including singer and concert performer. She is regularly performing at the most prestigious venues in the world. McDonald was born in Fresno California, where she was raised by a large family that included musicians. In the Juilliard School in New York City, McDonald received training as the classical singer. Her first Tony Award in 1994 for the best performance of an Actress in a musical called Carousel and was presented at Lincoln Center Theater. In the following four years, she also won two Tony Awards in the featured actress category for her performances during performances in the Broadway premier of Terrence McNally's production Master Class (1996) and the show Ragtime (1998) giving her an unheard of number of Tony Awards before the age of 30. She won her fourth Tony in 2004 starring with Sean Diddy Combs in A Raisin in the Sun as well as in 2012. In 2012, she took home five Tonys and her first one in the category leading actress for her part of The Gershwins Porgy and Bess in the title role. As the Tony Awards' most decorated actor, she managed to make Broadway record-breaking history when she took home the sixth Tony Award playing Billie Holiday as Lady Day at the Emerson's Bar & Grill. This role also provided the platform for her Olivier Award nominee 2017 London West End debut. Along with setting an all-time record for the amount of awards an actor earned, she was the first ever to have won the four categories. McDonald's other theater credits includes The Secret Garden (1993) Marie Christine (1999) Henry IV (2004) 110 in the Shade (2007) Twelfth Night (2009) which marked her Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park debut Shuffle Along or the Making of the Musical Sensation in 1921 as well as All That Followed (2016) Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2019) and Ohio State Murders (2023). McDonald was introduced to a television audience as a dramatic actress by Peabody Award winning CBS's Having Our Say The Delany Sisters first 100 years. The actress then starred with Kathy Bates and Victor Garber in the lauded 1999 television adaptation of Annie and then in 2000 she was a frequent guest in NBC's hit show Law & Order Special Victims Unit. McDonald, who received an Emmy Award nomination back in 1999 due to her part as a character in an HBO remake of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit featuring Emma Thompson was seen again on TV networks in 2003 on the political drama Mister Sterling. The film is produced by Emmy Award-winning Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. In 2006, McDonald joined WB's The Bedford Diaries. The following year, she became a recurring actor on NBC's Kidnapped. McDonald got a 4th Emmy award in recognition of her part in the HBO film special Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill in 2016. In 2021 she co-starred in a telecast with Taylor Schilling and Steven Pasquale in The Bite, a pandemic drama that was co-produced between Spectrum Originals and CBS Studios. She starred in 2009 as U.S. Attorney Liz Lawrence on CBS's legal drama The Good Wife. In 2018, McDonald played her character Liz Reddick as a regular on Paramount+'s The Good Fight. She got three Critics Choice Award nods for this performance. She is currently in the role of a guest star on Julian Fellowes's historical comedy The Gilded Age on HBO.