Audra Mc Donald

Audra Mcdonald is a standout in her breadth of talent and her versatility as a singer and actor. In 2015, she was awarded record-breaking six Tony Awards as well as two Grammy Awards and Emmy Awards. Her name was also cited by Time magazine among the 100 most influential people and was received the National Medal of Arts - the most prestigious prize for artistic achievement in America in recognition of artistic excellence - from President Barack Obama. She is equally at home in television, film and Broadway. The luminous tone of her voice is a perfect fit for the stage. Apart from performing in theater McDonald has also established a successful profession as a music and concert performer. McDonald, who was born in Fresno California to a music family, began her training in classical singing at New York's Juilliard School. Following her graduation, she received her first Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Carousel at the Lincoln Center Theater (1994). The following four years, she received two more Tony Awards as a featured actress for her roles as a featured actress in Terrence Mcnally's Broadway debuts Master Class (1996) and Ragtime (1998). Her total of Tony Awards is unprecedented at three before age thirty. In 2004, she was nominated to win her 4th Tony Award. She was in the role of A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Diddy Combs. And in 2012, her fifth Tony as well as her first win for the category of Leading Actress were won by her role as the title character in The Gershwins Porgy and Bess. In 2014 she made Broadway history by becoming one of the Tony Awards most decorated performer after she received the sixth Tony Award in the role of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill the role which was also the stage for her Olivier Award-nominated performance in the 2017 season of London's West End. Along with setting the record in the contest for winning the most awards by an acting performance, she also became the first to have won each of the four categories for acting. McDonald's other theater credits are The Secret Garden (1993) Marie Christine (1999) Henry IV (2004) 110 in the Shade (2007) Twelfth Night (2009) that marked her Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park debut Shuffle Along or the Making of the Musical Sensation in 1921 as well as All That Followed (2016) Frankie and Johnny in Clair de Lune (2019) and Ohio State Murders (2023). The Peabody Award-winning CBS show Having Our Say The Delany Sisters The First 100 Years which was the first to introduce McDonald to the television audience for her performance as a dramatic actor. She went on to co-star alongside Kathy Bates and Victor Garber in the highly acclaimed 1999 remake by ABC and Disney of Annie and, in 2000, had a recurring role on NBC's hit series 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 network television came in 2003 when she starred with Josh Brolin in Mister Sterling. McDonald became a character on The Bedford Diaries on the WB series The Bedford Diaries in early 2006. The following season, she was a recurring character on NBC's television show Kidnapped. McDonald's performance in the HBO movie Lady Day At Emerson Bar & Grill received her a four-time Emmy nomination in 2016. The Bite will be a six-episode series about a epidemic co-produced with Spectrum Originals, CBS Studios and Taylor Schilling in 2021. The year 2009 saw her debut, McDonald portrayed U.S. Attorney Liz Lawrence on CBS's legal drama The Good Wife. In 2018, McDonald reprised her role as Liz Reddick as a regular on Paramount+'s The Good Fight. She received three Critics Choice Award nods for her performance. The actress is currently acting as a guest in Julian Fellowes' historical drama The Gilded Age, which airs on HBO.