Renée Elise Goldsberry

Renée Elise Goldsberry

Goldsberry (right) with costar Javier Muñoz in costume for Hamilton
Born (1971-01-02) January 2, 1971
San Jose, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress, singer, songwriter
Spouse(s) Alexis Johnson (m. 2002; 2 children)

Renée Elise Goldsberry (born January 2, 1971) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She has starred on Broadway in several productions: as Angelica Schuyler Church in Hamilton, Nettie in The Color Purple, Kate in Good People, Mimi in Rent, and Nala in The Lion King. She is also known for her recurring roles as a singer on Ally McBeal, as assistant Cook County State's Attorney Geneva Pine on The Good Wife, and her starring role as Evangeline Williamson on One Life to Live.

Personal life

Goldsberry was born in San Jose, California and raised in both Houston, Texas and Detroit, Michigan.[1] After graduating from Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills she went to Carnegie Mellon University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in theater.[2] She went on to attend graduate school at the University of Southern California, where she received her masters degree in vocal jazz performance.[3] In 2002, she married New York attorney Alexis Johnson.[1] Goldsberry gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Benjamin Johnson, in May 2009. She and her husband then adopted a daughter, Brielle, in 2014.[4]

Career

In 2001 Goldsberry starred in the movie All About You as Nicole, and co-wrote more than half of the soundtrack, including the title song.[3] She is also a grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.[3] She appeared on Ally McBeal as one of the back-up singers who frequently accompanied Vonda Shepard's performances. She played "Nala" in the Broadway production of The Lion King.[5]

Goldsberry portrayed attorney Evangeline Williamson on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live from 2003 until 2007. She was nominated for an NAACP Image Award[3][5] in 2004 for "Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series" and won a Soap Opera Digest Award in 2005 for Favorite Triangle, with co-stars Michael Easton and Melissa Archer. Goldsberry was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actress" in both 2006 and 2007 for the role.[3][5]

Goldsberry was nominated for a Drama League Award for "Distinguished Performance" and won a New York magazine Best of 2005 Award for her performance as Silvia in the 2005 New York City Shakespeare in the Park revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona.[3][5] She later originated the role of Nettie in The Color Purple, the Broadway musical adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name,[3][5] from November 2005 to mid-January 2006.

On June 16, 2008, Goldsberry was the last actress to play the role of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical Rent.[5] Rent's last performance was filmed and made into a DVD, Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway. In 2011, she was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of Kate in David Lindsay-Abaire's play, Good People.[6] Most recently, she was seen as Olivia Warren on The Following on Fox. She currently has a recurring role on The Good Wife as ASA Geneva Pine.[4]

Goldsberry originated the role of Angelica Schuyler Church in Hamilton[7] and is currently performing the role at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

In October 2015, she appeared on the BET Hip Hop Awards. She was one of two women to rap in the Cypher.[8]

For her work on Hamilton, Goldsberry won both the 2015 Drama Desk Award and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. In addition, as a member of the principal cast of the musical, she was also a recipient of a Grammy Award when the original cast album of Hamilton won Best Musical Theater Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards.[9]

Credits

Television

Film

Theatre

Discography

Awards and nominations

Awards
Year Award Category Production Result
2004 NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series One Life to Live Nominated
2005 Soap Opera Digest Award Favorite Triangle Won
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Two Gentlemen of Verona Nominated
2006 Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series One Life to Live Nominated
2007 Nominated
Image Award Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series Nominated
2011 Outer Critics Circle Awards Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Good People Nominated
2015 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Hamilton Won
Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Won
2016 Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Musical Pending
Broadway.com Audience Awards Favorite Featured Actress in a Musical Won
Grammy Award Best Musical Theater Album Won

References

  1. 1 2 Kaufman, Joanne (2015-10-09). "A Night Out With Renée Elise Goldsberry of ‘Hamilton’". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  2. ↑ "Hip-hop “Hamilton”-CMU News - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Goldsberry official website; retrieved January 5, 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Renée Elise Goldsberry". IMDb. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Headlines: Renée Elise Goldsberry to Join Broadway's Rent as Mimi". Broadway.com. May 15, 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Outer Critics Circle Announce 2010-11 Season Nominees". outercritics.org. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  7. ↑ Schulman, Michael (6 August 2015). "The Women of "Hamilton"". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "The Cypher Revealed: Hamilton Cypher [Explicit]". BET.com. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  9. ↑ Past Winners. GRAMMY Search database. Grammy Awards. 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016

External links

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