Audra McDonald

Audra McDonald is a famous American singer and actress.

She is most well known for her amazing work on the Broadway stage. She has won six Tony Awards for her acting. This is a record for any single actor. She is also the only person to win in all four acting categories. These categories are for leading actresses in plays and musicals. She also won for featured actresses in plays and musicals.

Besides the Tony Awards, she has won two Grammy Awards for music. She also won an Emmy Award for her work on television.

Audra's career involves many different kinds of performing. She sings in grand operas and acts in serious dramas. She also performs in musical theater and movies.

As a classical soprano, she sings with large symphony orchestras. She has worked with the New York Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. She even performed on the South Lawn of the White House. Her singing ranges from jazz songs to musical theater. She can sing many different styles of music very well.

Audra was born on July 3, 1970, in West Berlin, West Germany. Her parents were American. Her father was a high school principal in the United States Army. Her mother was a university administrator. Audra grew up in Fresno, California. She was the older of two daughters. Her sister, Alison, also works in television and film. Audra went to the Roosevelt School of the Arts in high school. She later studied classical voice at the Juilliard School. She graduated from that school in 1993.

She began acting with a group called the Good Company Players. She knew she wanted to be in theater after her first performance there. Her first big Broadway role was in the musical The Secret Garden. She won her first Tony Award in 1994 for Carousel. In 1996, she won another award for the play Master Class. She won a third Tony for the musical Ragtime in 1998. She won her fourth award in 2004 for A Raisin in the Sun. Her fifth award was for Porgy and Bess in 2012. Her sixth award was for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill in 2014.

Audra has done many things to help the theater world. She often plays roles that were usually played by white actors. She does this because she refuses to be stereotyped. She believes that if she is right for a role, she should try it. This helps make musical theater more diverse for everyone. In 2016, President Barack Obama gave her the National Medal of Arts. This is a very high honor for artists. In 2017, she was also put into the American Theater Hall of Fame. These honors show how much people value her talent and her hard work.