Audra Mc Donald

Audra Mcdonald is a standout in her breadth of talent and versatility in her roles as a performer and singer. In 2015, she was awarded a record breaking seven Tony Awards as well as two Grammy Awards and Emmy Awards. She was also named by Time magazine among the 100 most influential people and was given with the National Medal of Arts - the most prestigious prize given in America in recognition of artistic excellence and achievement - by the president Barack Obama. A luminous soprano with an extraordinary talent for dramatic truth-telling her voice is comfortable in Broadway and the opera scene as she is in her film and television roles. She is a renowned performer performing and recording performing regularly in some of the most prestigious venues around the globe. McDonald grew in Fresno California, where she was surrounded by a large family full of musicians. In the Juilliard School in New York City, McDonald received training as a classical singer. In 1994, just a few years after she graduated from Juilliard School, McDonald won the Tony Award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical" for her performance in Carousel. Over the next four years, she also was awarded two Tony Awards under the featured actress category. The awards were given for her Broadway productions of Terrence McGally's plays Master Class and Ragtime. In 2004, she took home her 4th Tony for her role on stage in A Raisin in the Sun along with Sean Diddy Combs. Then in 2013, she took home her 5th Tony, and also her first in the leading actress category. The actress made Broadway historical records in 2014 when she became the world's most decorated Tony Award performer. The role she played 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. The first actor to be given awards in four distinct acting categories, McDonald broke the record for the number of awards an actor has received. McDonald has also been featured for theatre shows, including The Secret Garden (1993) Marie Christine (1999), Henry IV 2004 110 in the Shade (2006) Twelfth Nigh (2009); this was her Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park debut shuffle Along Or the Making of the Musical Sense in 1921 and All That Followed (16) Frankie and Johnny in Clair de Lune (192019) as well as Ohio State Murders (2023) McDonald was 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. In the following years, she starred alongside Kathy Bates, Victor Garber and other actors in the highly popular Disney/ABC remake of Annie in 1999, McDonald was been a regular character in the NBC show Law & Order Special Victims Unit. McDonald, who earned an Emmy Award nomination in 1999 for her work in the HBO adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit with Emma Thompson, made her return with the company in 2003 with the drama on politics Mister Sterling. The film was produced by Emmy Award-winning Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. McDonald became a character on The Bedford Diaries on the WB show The Bedford Diaries in early the year 2006. Following the season, she starred as a recurring character on NBC's Television show Kidnapped. McDonald received a fourth Emmy nomination for her role in HBO's film special of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill in 2016. In 2021, she starred with Taylor Schilling and Steven Pasquale in the film The Bite, a pandemic drama that was co-produced between Spectrum Originals and CBS Studios. She first appeared on the show in the role of U.S. attorney Liz Lawrence in 2009 on CBS's medical drama The Good Wife in 2018 McDonald returned to the role (now called Liz Reddick) as a season regular on The Good Fight on Paramount+ with three Critics Choice Award nominations for her role. Presently, she is a guest star in Julian Fellowes' historical drama The Gilded Age, which premieres on HBO.