Baayork Lee

Baayork Lee, born December 5, 1946, in New York City's Chinatown, is an American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author. The daughter of an Indian mother and a Chinese father, Lee began dancing at a young age and made her Broadway debut at the age of five, originating the role of Princess Ying Yawolak in The King and I in 1951. Yul Brynner, who played the original king, became a significant figure in her early life, and Lee described him in a 2004 interview as a second father to her. After outgrowing her role in that production, she continued her training in ballet, modern, and afro-Cuban dance, and appeared in George Balanchine's original production of The Nutcracker, where she encountered ballerina Maria Tallchief, whom she idolized.

While attending the High School for Performing Arts, Lee met fellow student Michael Bennett, a relationship that would shape much of her professional life. During that same period she appeared in Flower Drum Song, and her Broadway credits expanded further to include Mr. President, Golden Boy, and Here's Love. Although Lee had aspired to a career as a professional ballerina, her height of four feet ten inches led to rejections from ballet companies. She was offered a scholarship to Juilliard but chose instead to continue building her career in theatre.

Three consecutive Broadway productions — A Joyful Noise, Henry, Sweet Henry, and Promises, Promises — were all choreographed by Bennett, deepening the professional bond between the two. In Promises, Promises, Lee performed the dance number "Turkey Lurkey Time" alongside Donna McKechnie and Margo Sappington, and she served as the production's dance captain. She also recreated the choreography for subsequent touring productions of that show, marking an early step toward her future as a choreographer. In 1973, she traveled to Israel to appear in Norman Jewison's film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, and that same year she appeared in Bennett's Seesaw, in which she was featured opposite Tommy Tune and assisted with the choreography.

In 1975, Bennett invited Lee to participate in the workshops that gave rise to A Chorus Line. The character of Connie Wong was drawn substantially from her own life. The production's cast, including Lee, received the 1976 Theatre World Special Award for Ensemble Performance. Fifteen years after the show's opening, Lee co-authored On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line, published in 1990 with cast member Thommie Walsh and Robert Viagas, documenting the development of the musical. She went on to direct or choreograph numerous productions of A Chorus Line over the following decades, among them the 2006 Broadway revival. The 2008 documentary Every Little Step chronicles the casting process of that revival.

Beginning in the 1970s, Lee shifted increasing focus toward choreography and directing, starting with a production of Where's Charley? in New Jersey. She served for a time as associate choreographer for Tommy Tune and choreographed productions for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, as well as the production of Marilyn: An American Fable. She has directed national and international tours of The King and I, Carmen Jones, Bombay Dreams, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Porgy and Bess, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Barnum. Additional projects have included work as a talent scout for Tokyo Disneyland, opening a musical theater school in Seoul, South Korea, and producing various stage productions. In 2018, she choreographed New York City Center's Gala production of A Chorus Line, and in 2019 she directed and choreographed South Pacific for City Springs Theatre Company in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Lee's contributions beyond performance have been widely recognized. She is a co-founder of the National Asian Artists Project, a non-profit organization that promotes the work of Asian-American theatre artists through performance, outreach, and educational programming. In 2017, she received the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, which honors members of the theatre industry for significant contributions to charitable causes, in recognition of her commitment to theatre education and her work with the National Asian Artists Project. The Actors' Equity Foundation presented her with the Paul Robeson Citation Award in 2014.