Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is a four-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer. She currently stars in the ABC television drama Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett.
Born in Berlin, Germany and raised in Fresno, California, the elder of two daughters, she began to study acting at a young age to counteract her diagnosis as "hyperactive". McDonald graduated from the Roosevelt School of the Arts program within Theodore Roosevelt High S...
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Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is a four-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer. She currently stars in the ABC television drama Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett.
Born in Berlin, Germany and raised in Fresno, California, the elder of two daughters, she began to study acting at a young age to counteract her diagnosis as "hyperactive". McDonald graduated from the Roosevelt School of the Arts program within Theodore Roosevelt High School in Fresno. She got her start in acting with Dan Pessano and Good Company Players, beginning in their Junior Company. "I knew I wanted to be involved in theater when: I had my first chance to perform with the Good Company Players Junior Company.", "The people who have had the most impact on my life: Good Company director Dan Pessano and my mother." She studied classical voice as an undergraduate under Ellen Faull at the Juilliard School, graduating in 1993.
McDonald became a three-time Tony Award winner by the age of 28 — for her...
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