Audra Mc Donald

Audra Mcdonald is a unique performer in the diversity and scope of her talents as a singer and actor. Audra McDonald, winner of the prestigious six Tony Awards in a row and two Grammy Awards in 2015 was recognized as one of Times magazine's 100 Most Influential people. President Barack Obama also awarded her the National Medal of Arts -the most prestigious honor bestowed to Americans for excellence in this area. Her talents are equally at home in film, television and Broadway. Her stunning soprano makes her a natural on the stage. She has a successful career in concert and recording frequently appearing at of the most prestigious performances around the globe. McDonald is from Fresno California, where she was raised by a large family of musicians. While at the Juilliard School in New York City, McDonald received training as the classical singer. The first time she won a Tony Award in 1994 for the Best Performance of an actress who was featured in a musical for Carousel which was staged at Lincoln Center Theater. In the following four years, she was awarded two more Tony Awards in the featured actress category for her performance during performances in the Broadway productions Terrence McNally's production Master Class (1996) and the Musical Ragtime (1998) creating an unheard of number of Tony Awards before the age of thirty. She was awarded her fourth Tony for her performance in 2004 with Sean Diddy Combs in A Raisin in the Sun as well as in 2012. In 2012, she received five Tony Awards, and she was the first one in the category lead actress for her role of The Gershwins Porgy and Bess in the lead role. The actress made Broadway historical records in 2014 when she was the most decorated Tony Award performer. Her portrayal as Billie Holiday at Emerson's Bar & Grill as well as the role which was also instrumental in launching the career of her Olivier Award nominated debut on the London's West End in 2017, was the reason she received six awards. In addition to setting an all-time record for the amount of Tony Awards an actor has been awarded, she is the first to win each of the four categories. McDonald was also seen in The Secret Garden (1993), Marie Christine (1999), Henry IV (2004), 110 in the Shade (2007 Twelfth night (2009) and the film Shuffle Along: Shuffle Along: Making of the Musical Shock in 1921 as well as Everything That Followed (2016). She was the first actress to receive awards in all four acting categories. It was the Peabody Award-winning CBS program Having Our Say The Delany Sisters The First 100 years that first introduced McDonald to the television audience in her role as a dramatic performer. The year 1999 saw her appeared alongside Kathy Bates in ABC's acclaimed remake of Annie. Additionally, she was an recurring role on NBC's Law & Order Special Victims Unit in 2000. After receiving her debut Emmy nomination for her performance in the HBO film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning show Wit, written by Mike Nichols and starring Emma Thompson McDonald returned to television networks in 2003 on the political drama Mister Sterling, produced by Emmy Award winner Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. and with Josh Brolin. She joined the cast of the show on WB called The Bedford Diaries and over the next season she had a recurring role on NBC's drama series Kidnapped. McDonald was awarded a 4th Emmy for her role as Lady Day in Emerson's Bar and Grill on HBO in 2016. The Bite is a drama featuring six episodes that are based on the pandemic that was co-produced through Spectrum Originals & CBS Studios. She appeared alongside Taylor Schilling & Steven Pasquale. McDonald initially played U.S. lawyer Liz Lawrence (now Liz Reddick), in CBS's Legal crime thriller The Good Wife, in 2009. In 2018, she played the same role again in The Good Fight for Paramount+ as a series regular. Her performance received three Critics Choice Award Nominations. She guest stars in Julian Fellowes's historical drama The Gilded Age.