Audra McDonald

Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is an American actress and singer.

Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win in all four acting categories.

In addition to her six Tony Awards she has received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy Award.

McDonald made her Broadway debut as a replacement portraying Ayah in the musical The Secret Garden in from 1992 to 1993.

She studied classical voice as an undergraduate under Ellen Faull at the Juilliard School, graduating in 1993.

She has received six Tony Awards for her roles in Carousel (1994), Master Class (1996), Ragtime (1998), A Raisin in the Sun (2004), Porgy and Bess (2012), and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (2014).

For her role as Carrie Pipperidge in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel (1994), she won her first Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

The following year she played Sharon Graham in the Terrence McNally play Master Class (1995) earning her second Tony Award this time for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

In 1996 she made her film acting debut in Seven Servants by Daryush Shokof.

From 1997 to 1999 she played Sarah acting in 20th Century musical written by McNally, Ragtime at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

She won her third Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

In 1999 she played Marie Christine L'Adrese in the musical Marie Christine on Broadway and The Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.

McDonald has also made many television and film appearances, both musical and dramatic.

After being cast in The Object of My Affection and Cradle Will Rock, in 1999, she appeared on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street; in television remake of Annie as Daddy Warbucks's secretary & soon-to-be wife, Miss Farrell; and in the television film Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years. In 2000, McDonald acted in two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and in the television film The Last Debate.

McDonald was a three-time Tony Award winner by age 28 for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime, placing her alongside Shirley Booth, Gwen Verdon and Zero Mostel by accomplishing this feat within five years.

Her other Tony-nominated roles were in Marie Christine (2000), 110 in the Shade (2007), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2020), and Ohio State Murders (2023).

She received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her roles in Wit (2001), A Raisin in the Sun (2008), and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (2016).

In 2001, she received her first Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for the HBO film Wit, which starred Emma Thompson and was directed by Mike Nichols.

In 2003, McDonald starred as Sarah Langley in It Runs in the Family, and as Jackie Brock in nine episodes of short-lived Mister Sterling. From 2005 to 2006, she acted in several television series and films, such as The Bedford Diaries and Kidnapped, while from 2007 to 2013 she played Dr. Naomi Bennett in Private Practice, a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy, replacing Merrin Dungey, who played the role in the series pilot.

She was nominated for another Tony Award for her performance in Marie Christine before she won her fourth in 2004 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun, placing her in the company of then four-time winning actress Angela Lansbury.

She sang with the New York Philharmonic in the annual New Year's Eve gala concert on December 31, 2006, featuring music from the films; it was televised on Live from Lincoln Center by PBS.

She has a close working relationship with composer Michael John LaChiusa who has written several works for her, including the Broadway musical Marie Christine, the opera Send (who are you? i love you), and The Seven Deadly Sins: A Song Cycle.

On television, she portrayed Dr. Naomi Bennett in the ABC series Private Practice from 2007 to 2011, and Liz Lawrence in The Good Wife and its spinoff series The Good Fight.

Her recording of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (2008) with the Los Angeles Opera won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album and the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

She maintains an active concert and recording career throughout the United States performing genres ranging from jazz standards to musical theatre.

McDonald was born in West Berlin, West Germany, the daughter of American parents, Anna Kathryn (Jones), a university administrator, and Stanley James McDonald Jr., a high school principal.

At the time of her birth, her father was stationed with the United States Army.

McDonald was raised in her father's native Fresno, California, the elder of two daughters; her sister, Alison, writes and directs for television and film.

McDonald graduated from the Roosevelt School of the Arts program within Theodore Roosevelt High School in Fresno.

She got her start in acting with Dan Pessano and Roger Rocka's Good Company Players, beginning in their junior company.

In a feature article about her written when she was a child, she said that she knew she wanted to be involved in theater "when I had my first chance to perform with the Good Company Players Junior Company."

She also said that the people who have had the most impact on her life are "Good Company director Dan Pessano and my mother."

She reprised her Raisin role for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination.

On June 10, 2012, McDonald scored her fifth Tony Award win for her portrayal of Bess in Broadway's The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, thus tying Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris.

Her 2014 performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill earned McDonald her sixth Tony award and made her the first person to win all four acting categories.

She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program for hosting Live from Lincoln Center (2015).

On film, she has acted in Ricki and the Flash (2015), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Respect (2021), and Rustin (2023).

As a classical soprano, she has performed in staged operas with the Houston Grand Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, and in concerts with symphony orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.

She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2016 from President Barack Obama, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017.

She has performed in musicals, operas, and dramas.