Audra Mc Donald

Audra is an artist who stands out because of her range and variety of her talent as a performer and songwriter. She was the recipient of record-breaking seven Tony Awards two Grammy Awards and the Emmy Award in 2015 she was ranked among Time magazine's top 100 influential individuals and was awarded the National Medal of Arts--America's highest honor for achievement in this field -- from President Barack Obama. Because of her beautiful tone, and unbeatable ability of telling dramatic tales her success has been evident both on Broadway and in the opera and in both film and television. As well as performing on stage, she has built a career that has a substantial concert and record-making career. She regularly performs at world-class performances. McDonald is from Fresno California, where she was raised by a family full of musicians. In the Juilliard School in New York City, McDonald received training as a classical singer. The year 1994 was the year after she graduated from Juilliard School, she won the Tony Award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actress in musical" for Carousel. The following four years she was awarded two more Tony Awards for the category of a featured actress. She performed in the Broadway premieres Terrence McNally's musical Ragtime and Terrence McNally's production of Master Class in 1996. The result was an astonishing amount of three Tony Awards by the time she was thirty. In 2004, she received her 4th Tony when she starred as a lead in A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Diddy Combs. Then in 2013, she brought her fifth Tony, and also her 1st in the Leading actress category. In 2014 she made Broadway history and became an official Tony Awards most decorated performer when she won 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 2017 debut in the London's West End. As the first actress to be given awards in four distinct acting categories, McDonald also broke the record for the total number of awards that an actor has been awarded. McDonald was also seen in The Secret Garden (1993), Marie Christine (1999), Henry IV (2004) as well as 110 In The Shade (2007 Twelfth night (2009) and the musical Shuffle Along: the Making of the Musical Shock of 1921 and All That Followed (2016). She also made her Public Theater Shakespeare in the Park debut with Twelfth Nacht (2009). McDonald was first introduced to the television audience for her dramatic performance in Peabody Award winning CBS's Having Our Say the Delany Sisters first 100 years. In 1999, she co-starred with Kathy Bates in ABC's acclaimed remake of Annie. In addition, she played regularly recurring roles on NBC's Law & Order Special Victims Unit in 2000. McDonald's Emmy-nominated performance as Emma Thompson on Mike Nichols' HBO film adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winner Wit was directed by Mike Nichols. McDonald's return to television networks began in 2003 when she starred with Josh Brolin in Mister Sterling. The Bedford Diaries on the WB in early 2006 and Kidnapped, NBC. McDonald received a fourth Emmy for her role as Lady Day in Emerson's Bar & Grill on HBO in the year 2016. The Bite is a drama featuring six episodes that are based on the pandemic that was co-produced through Spectrum Originals & CBS Studios. McDonald starred alongside Taylor Schilling & Steven Pasquale. The year 2009 saw her debut, McDonald portrayed 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 received three Critics Choice Award nods for her performance. She guest stars as a guest star in Julian Fellowes historical drama The Gilded Age.