About
Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actress. A record-breaking six-time Tony Award-winner (Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill), she has also appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden, Marie Christine (Tony nomination), Henry IV, and 110 in the Shade (Tony nomination). The Juilliard-trained soprano's opera credits include La voix humaine and Send at Houston Grand Opera and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera. On television, she was recently seen as the Mother Abbess in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live! and played Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC’s Private Practice for four seasons. She has received Emmy nominations for Wit, A Raisin in the Sun, and her role as official host of PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center. Other TV credits include The Good Wife, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, The Bedford Diaries, Kidnapped, and the 1999 remake of Annie. On film, she has appeared in Seven Servants, The Object of My Affection, Cradle Will Rock, It Runs in the Family, The Best Thief in the World, She Got Problems, and Rampart. A two-time Grammy Award-winner and exclusive recording artist for Nonesuch Records, she released her fifth solo album for the label, Go Back Home, in 2013. McDonald also maintains a major career as a concert artist, regularly appearing on the great stages of the world and with leading international orchestras. An ardent proponent of marriage equality and an advocate for at-risk and underprivileged youth, she sits on the boards of Broadway Impact and Covenant House. Of her many roles, her favorites are the ones performed offstage: wife to her husband, actor Will Swenson, and mother to her daughter, Zoe Madeline.