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 record-breaking six Tony Awards two Grammy Awards as well as one Emmy Award in 2015 she was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people. She also received the National Medal of Arts, America's highest award for accomplishment in this field -- from the President Barack Obama. Due to her soprano's luminous tone and unsurpassed gift to tell dramatic stories her success has been evident in Broadway and at the opera as well as for television and film. Alongside her stage performances, she also has an active career as a recording and concert artist. She regularly performs at the most prestigious venues in the world. McDonald, who was born in Fresno California to a music family, completed her classical voice training at the New York's Juilliard School. Following her graduation, she won the very first Tony Award for Best Performance of a Featured Actress a Musical for Carousel at Lincoln Center Theater (1994). Over the next four years she was awarded two more Tony Awards in the featured actress category for her performance on performances in the Broadway productions Terrence McNally's play Master Class (1996) and his show Ragtime (1998) making an unheard of number of Tony Awards before the age of 30. In 2004, she was in the running for her fourth Tony Award for her performance in A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Diddy Combs. And in 2012, her 5th Tony and her first nomination for the category of Leading Actress was awarded to her for her portrayal as the main character of The Gershwins Porgy and Bess. She created Broadway historical records in 2014 as she became the highest popular Tony Award nominee. The role she played in the role of Billie Holiday at Emerson's Bar & Grill as well as the role which also served to launch her Olivier Award nominated debut on London's West End in 2017, was the reason she received six awards. Not only did she set the record for most awards in a competition category by an actor, she became the first person ever to be awarded in each of the four types of acting. Her credits in the theatre includes 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 in 1921 and the Drama That Followed. Frankie Johnny on the Clair de Lune. and Ohio State Murders. McDonald was first seen on television in the award-winning Peabody Award winning CBS series Having Our Say - The Delany Sisters's First Hundred Years. She went on to co-star with Kathy Bates and Victor Garber in the highly acclaimed 1999 Disney/ABC television remake of Annie as well as in 2000, she was a frequent guest on NBC's hit series Law & Order Special Victims Unit. McDonald won her debut Emmy for her role in her role in the HBO adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Wit written by Mike Nichols, starring Emma Thompson. In 2003, she returned to the screen, this time with Mister Sterling produced by Emmy Award winner Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., which starred Josh Brolin. In early 2006 she joined the cast of the The Bedford Diaries on the WB. The Bedford Diaries and over the course of the season, she was a recurring role on NBC's television series Kidnapped. McDonald won a 4th Emmy for her role as Lady Day in Emerson's Bar & Grill, which aired on HBO in 2016. The Bite is a drama with six episodes based on a pandemic, coproduced through Spectrum Originals & CBS Studios. She appeared in the show with Taylor Schilling & Steven Pasquale. McDonald was first seen in the CBS Legal drama The Good Wife as U.S. attorneys Liz Lawrence and Liz Reddick from 2009 until 2018 reprised the characters (now known as Liz Reddick) in The Good Fight in the role of an Paramount+ season regular. McDonald has been nominated for the three Critics Choice Award awards. She is also a character in the HBO series The Gilded Age by Julian Fellowes.