Audra Mc Donald

Audra Mcdonald stands out in the range of her talents and her versatility as a singer and actor. She was the recipient of an unprecedented six Tony Awards (two Grammy Awards) and one Emmy Award, McDonald was included in Time magazine's list for 100 influential people in 2015. In addition, she was awarded President Barack Obama's National Medal of Arts for her accomplishments. A luminous soprano with an extraordinary talent of telling the truth in a dramatic manner, she is as much at home in Broadway and the opera scene as she is in her role in television and film. As well as performing on stage, she has built a career that includes a significant concert and record-making career. She regularly performs at top venues. McDonald grew in Fresno California, where she was surrounded by a large family that included musicians. At the Juilliard School in New York City, McDonald received training as the classical singer. After graduating, she received her very first Tony Award as Best Performance of a Featured Artist musical at the Lincoln Center Theater for Carousel (1994). The next four years she won two more Tony Awards in the featured actress category for her performance on the Broadway premieres of Terrence McNally's play Master Class (1996) and his show Ragtime (1998) making an unprecedented total of three Tony Awards before the age of 30. The year 2004, she took home her 4th Tony by starring as a lead in A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Diddy Combs. Then in 2013, she took her fifth Tony in addition to her first award in the Leading actress category. As the Tony Awards' most decorated performer, she was able to make Broadway history when she received the sixth Tony Award portraying Billie Holiday as Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. This performance also served as the basis for her Olivier Award nominee 2017 London West End debut. As the first actress to be awarded in four different acting categories, McDonald broke the record for the amount of awards an actor has won. McDonald's credits in theater include The Secret Garden (1993) Marie Christine (993) Henry IV (2004) and 110 in the Shade (707). Twelfth Night was McDonald's Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park debut. Shuffle Along is The Making of the Musical Seduction of 1921, and All That Followed. Frankie Johnny on the Clair de Lune. and Ohio State Murders. McDonald's first role as a dramatic TV actor was on the Peabody Award-winning CBS program Having Our Say The Delany Sistersthe first 100 years. Then, in 1999 she costarred alongside Kathy Bates and Victor Garber on the ABC/Disney television version of Annie. In 2000, she played a recurring on NBC's popular show Law & Order Special Victims Unit. McDonald's Emmy-nominated performance as Emma Thompson in Mike Nichols' HBO film adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winner Wit was directed by Mike Nichols. McDonald's return to the network TV screen came in 2003 in which she co-starred with Josh Brolin in Mister Sterling. The Bedford Diaries on the WB in early 2006 and Kidnapped, NBC. McDonald's role in HBO film Lady Day At Emerson Bar Restaurant earned the actress a fourth Emmy nomination in 2016. The Bite was a six episode pandemic themed drama produced in collaboration with Spectrum Originals in collaboration with CBS Studios. McDonald was first seen as U.S. lawyer Liz Lawrence (now Liz Reddick), in the CBS law-and-order action thriller The Good Wife, in 2009. In 2018 she reprised her role on The Good Fight for Paramount+ as a series regular. She received three Critics Choice Award Nominations. She's currently appearing as a guest in Julian Fellowes's period comedy The Gilded Age.