Audra Mc Donald

Audra Mcdonald stands out in the range of her talents and her versatility as an actor and singer. Her record-breaking success includes six Tony Awards two Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award in 2015 she was selected as one of Time magazine's top 100 influential individuals and was awarded the National Medal of Arts, America's most prestigious award for excellence in this field -- from President Barack Obama. As a result of her beautiful tone, and her unrivaled ability of telling compelling stories, she has found success in Broadway and in the opera as well as on television and film. In addition to her work in the theatre, she has a thriving career as a concert and recording performer who regularly appears at top venues around the globe. 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 the classical singer. A year after graduating McDonald won an award for the Tony Award Best Performance for an Actress in Musical Lead at Carousel at Lincoln Center Theater. Over the next four years she received two additional Tony Awards in the featured actress category for her performance in performances in the Broadway productions Terrence McNally's play Master Class (1996) and his show Ragtime (1998) giving her the record-breaking total of three Tony Awards before the age of 30. In 2004, she received her fourth Tony starring alongside Sean Diddy Combs in A Raisin in the Sun and in 2012, she took home the fifth time and first time in the leading actress category for her title role performance as the title character in The Gershwins Porgy and Bess. The actress made Broadway history when she became the world's most famous Tony Award winner. In her role as Billie Holiday at Emerson's Bar & Grill in the show, which also served to launch the career of her Olivier Award nominated debut on London's West End in 2017, was the reason she received six awards. In addition to setting the record as the most awards in a competition category for an actor, she became the first person ever to be awarded in each of the four types of acting. Her credits in the theatre 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 debut as a dramatic TV actor was on the Peabody Award-winning CBS show Having Our Say The Delany SistersThe First 100 Years. Her next role was that of a regular actor on the NBC show Law & Order Special Victims Unit, in which she was a part of the cast with Kathy Bates and Victor Garber. McDonald received her first Emmy for her part in The HBO remake of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Wit directed by Mike Nichols, starring Emma Thompson. In 2003, she returned to television but this time on Mister Sterling produced by Emmy Award-winning Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., starring Josh Brolin. The Bedford Diaries, a WB television show that premiered in 2006. She then had a recurring part on NBC's Kidnapped within the next year. McDonald received a fourth Emmy for her performance as Lady Day in Emerson's Bar & Grill, which aired on HBO in the year 2016. The Bite is a drama featuring six episodes that are based on the pandemic that was co-produced by Spectrum Originals & CBS Studios. She appeared with Taylor Schilling & Steven Pasquale. In 2009, she played U.S. Attorney Liz Lawrence on CBS's drama about lawyers The Good Wife. In 2018 McDonald returned to her role as Liz Reddick as a regular on Paramount+'s The Good Fight. She was awarded three Critics Choice Award nods for the role. In the present, she is guest on Julian Fellowes' period drama The Gilded Age.