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.
Alma mater	Carnegie Mellon University  (B.F.A.) University of Southern California  (M.M.)
Occupation	Actress, singer, songwriter
Years active	1996–present
Spouse(s)	Alexis Johnson (m. 2002)
Children	2

Renée Elise Goldsberry (born January 2, 1971) is an American actress, singer and songwriter.

Goldsberry originated the role of Angelica Schuyler Church in the Broadway musical Hamilton, a performance for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Goldsberry's other Broadway credits include Nettie in the original Broadway cast of The Color Purple, Mimi in Rent, and Nala in The Lion King. Goldsberry has also portrayed many roles on television, perhaps best 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.

Early 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, Michigan, she attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater, in 1993.^[2][3] She subsequently attended graduate school at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where she received a Master of Music, in jazz studies, in 1997.^[4][5]

Career

Television

Between 1997 and 2002, Goldsberry had a recurring role on Ally McBeal as one of the back-up singers who frequently accompanied Vonda Shepard's performances. She appeared in a total of 42 episodes prior to the show's cancellation. She also carried the role over into a guest appearance on the show Ally.

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^[4][6] 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.^[4][6]

After she left One Life to Live, she held a recurring role as assistant state attorney Geneva Pine on the political drama The Good Wife, appearing multiple times every season throughout the show's run, and ultimately appearing in a total of 23 episodes between 2010 and the series end in 2016.

In 2017, Goldsberry will star in the Netflix series Altered Carbon as Quellcrist Falconer. There will be 10 episodes in the first season.^[7]

She has also made guest appearances on such shows as Star Trek: Enterprise, Royal Pains, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Younger, Masters of Sex, and That 80's Show.

In 2016, Rebecca Skloot (author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) announced Goldsberry would be playing Henrietta Lacks in the HBO television film adaptation of her book. The film will also star Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.

Film

In 2001 Goldsberry starred in the movie All About You as Nicole, for which her performance was praised (although the film itself received mixed reviews).^[4] She also had a leading role as Drea in the 2008 action film Pistol Whipped and small supporting roles in the crime drama Every Secret Thing and the comedy Sisters.

Theatre

Goldsberry played a replacement Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King^[6] and was on the US tour for Dreamgirls.

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 Sylvia in the 2005 New York City Shakespeare in the Park revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona.^[4][6] 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,^[4][6] from November 2005 to mid-January 2006.

She returned to the off-Broadway stage in The Baker's Wife in 2007, before taking over the role of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical Rent, making her the final actress to play the role on Broadway.^[6] Rent's last performance was filmed and made into a DVD, Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway, which was also aired on national television. In 2011, she was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of Kate in the Broadway production of David Lindsay-Abaire's play, Good People.^[8]

She went on to appear in off-Broadway productions of Love's Labour's Lost and As You Like It, and appeared in I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road at Encores!.

Goldsberry originated the role of Angelica Schuyler Church in Hamilton^[9] and played her last performance in the role on September 3, 2016.^[10]

For her work on Hamilton, Goldsberry won a 2015 Drama Desk Award, the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, and a 2016 Tony Award. In addition, as a member of the principal cast of the musical, she was also a recipient of a Grammy Award after the original cast album won Best Musical Theater Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards.^[11]

Music

Goldsberry has had a lengthy singing/songwriting career, co-writing and performing more than half the soundtrack to the 2001 film All About You, including the title song.^[4] She was also the grand prize winner of the 1997 John Lennon Songwriting Contest for her rock music.^[4]

She also wrote and recorded an album titled Everything But the Kitchen Sink and an EP titled Beautiful, both of which are out of print.

In October 2015, she appeared on the BET Hip Hop Awards. She was one of two women to rap in the Cypher.^[12]

Personal life

In 2002, Goldsberry married New York attorney Alexis Johnson.^[1] In May 2009, she gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Benjamin Johnson. She and her husband also adopted a daughter, Brielle, in 2014.^[13]

Filmography

Note: Until 2008, Goldsberry was credited as simply Renée Goldsberry. After then, she alternated between the two before switching to Renée Elise Goldsberry in 2010.

Television

Film

Stage

• Paper Moon, regional
• Abyssinia, regional

Discography

• Everything But the Kitchen Sink, 2001 (out of print)
• A Holiday Affair, 2006 (sings The Christmas Song)
• Beautiful, 2006 (EP; out of print)
• The Color Purple (original Broadway cast recording), 2006
• Hamilton (original Broadway cast recording), 2015

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Renée Elise Goldsberry at the Internet Movie Database
• Renée Elise Goldsberry at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Renée Elise Goldsberry at the Internet Off-Broadway Database