Audra McDonald

Audra Ann McDonald, born July 3, 1970, in West Berlin, West Germany, is an American actress and singer whose career has centered primarily on the Broadway stage. Her father, Stanley James McDonald Jr., a high school principal, was stationed with the United States Army in West Germany at the time of her birth. Her mother, Anna Kathryn McDonald, worked as a university administrator. The family settled in Fresno, California, where McDonald was raised as the elder of two daughters; her sister, Alison, works as a writer and director in television and film. McDonald completed her secondary education through the Roosevelt School of the Arts program at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Fresno, where she also began her performing career with Dan Pessano and Roger Rocka's Good Company Players, starting in their junior company. She went on to study classical voice under Ellen Faull at the Juilliard School, graduating in 1993.

McDonald made her Broadway debut between 1992 and 1993 as a replacement in the role of Ayah in The Secret Garden. Her first Tony Award came in 1994 for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Carrie Pipperidge in the Rodgers and Hammerstein revival of Carousel. The following year she earned her second Tony, Best Featured Actress in a Play, for playing Sharon Graham in Terrence McNally's Master Class. She then took on the role of Sarah in Ragtime, performing first at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto from December 1996 through August 1997, and subsequently at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in New York from December 1997 through December 1998. Her work in Ragtime, which also carried a book by McNally, brought her a third Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, making her a three-time winner before the age of 28 and placing her alongside Shirley Booth, Gwen Verdon, and Zero Mostel in achieving that distinction within five years. In 1999 she appeared on Broadway as Marie Christine L'Adrese in the musical Marie Christine, for which she received a Tony nomination, and performed the role of the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

McDonald's fourth Tony Award came in 2004 for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in A Raisin in the Sun, placing her alongside Angela Lansbury as a four-time winner. She reprised that role for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her second Emmy Award nomination. In 2007 she appeared as Lizzie in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of 110 in the Shade, directed by Lonny Price at Studio 54, sharing the Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Musical with Donna Murphy. Her fifth Tony Award followed for her portrayal of Bess in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess in 2012, tying her with Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris. In 2014 she won her sixth Tony Award, for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, for her performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, making her the first person to win Tony Awards in all four acting categories. With six competitive performance wins, she holds the record for the most Tony Award performance victories of any actor. As of the 78th Tony Awards, she has received eleven Tony nominations in total, a record. Her additional nominated roles include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune in 2020, Ohio State Murders in 2023, and Gypsy in 2025, in which she became the first Black woman to portray Rose in a major Broadway production. She had previously broken similar ground as the first Black woman to play Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel and Lizzie Curry in 110 in the Shade on Broadway. Her Broadway appearances span from 1991 to 2024 and also include Dreamgirls.

Beyond the Tony Awards, McDonald has received two Grammy Awards and an Emmy Award. Her recording of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with the Los Angeles Opera in 2008 won both the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album and the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program in 2015 for hosting Live from Lincoln Center, and received additional Emmy nominations for the HBO film Wit in 2001, the television adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun in 2008, and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill in 2016. 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 The Good Fight. Her film credits include Ricki and the Flash in 2015, Beauty and the Beast in 2017, Respect in 2021, and Rustin in 2023.

As a classical soprano, McDonald has performed in staged opera productions with the Houston Grand Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, and has appeared in concert with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic. She maintains an active concert and recording career across the United States, performing repertoire that ranges from jazz standards to musical theatre. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2016, presented by President Barack Obama, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017. McDonald has a close working relationship with composer Michael John LaChiusa, who wrote the Broadway musical Marie Christine, the opera Send, and The Seven Deadly Sins: A Song Cycle for her.