1992–1999: Early work and breakthrough McDonald made her
Broadway debut as a replacement portraying
Ayah in the musical
The Secret Garden in from 1992 to 1993. For her role as Carrie Pipperidge in the
Rodgers and Hammerstein musical
Carousel (1994), she won her first
Tony Award for
Best Featured Actress in a Musical. The following year she played Sharon Graham in the
Terrence McNally play
Master Class (1995) earning her second Tony Award, this time for
Best Featured Actress in a Play. Between 1996 and 1998 she played Sarah in the musical
Ragtime, first at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, from December 1996 to August 1997, and then at the
Ford Center for the Performing Arts in New York from December 1997 to December 1998. For her performance in
Ragtime, which had a book written by McNally, McDonald won her third Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In 1999 she played Marie Christine L'Adrese in the musical
Marie Christine on Broadway and
The Beggar Woman in
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at
Avery Fisher Hall in
Lincoln Center. McDonald has also made many television and film appearances, both musical and dramatic. In 1996 she made her film acting debut in
Seven Servants by
Daryush Shokof. After being cast in
The Object of My Affection and
Cradle Will Rock, in 1999, she appeared on the television series
Homicide: Life on the Street; in television remake of
Annie as Daddy Warbucks's secretary & soon-to-be wife, Miss Farrell; and in the television film ''
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years.
In 2000, McDonald acted in two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and in the television film The Last Debate.''
2000–2010: Broadway stardom and acclaim McDonald was a three-time Tony Award winner by age 28 for her performances in
Carousel,
Master Class, and
Ragtime, placing her alongside
Shirley Booth,
Gwen Verdon and
Zero Mostel by accomplishing this feat within five years. She was nominated for another Tony Award for her performance in
Marie Christine before she won her fourth in 2004 for her role in
A Raisin in the Sun, placing her in the company of then four-time winning actress
Angela Lansbury. She reprised her
Raisin role for
a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second
Emmy Award nomination. McDonald would later score her fifth Tony Award win for her portrayal of Bess in
Broadway's ''The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
, thus tying Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris, and her 2014 performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill'' would earn McDonald her sixth Tony award and make her the first person to win all four acting categories. In 2001, she received her first
Emmy Award nomination for
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for the
HBO film
Wit, which starred
Emma Thompson and was directed by
Mike Nichols. In 2003, McDonald starred as Sarah Langley in
It Runs in the Family, and as Jackie Brock in nine episodes of short-lived
Mister Sterling. From 2005 to 2006, she acted in several television series and films, such as
The Bedford Diaries and
Kidnapped, while from 2007 to 2013 she played
Dr. Naomi Bennett in
Private Practice, a spinoff of ''
Grey's Anatomy,'' replacing
Merrin Dungey, who played the role in the series pilot. She sang with the
New York Philharmonic in the annual New Year's Eve gala concert on December 31, 2006, featuring music from the films; it was televised on
Live from Lincoln Center by
PBS. She has a close working relationship with composer
Michael John LaChiusa who has written several works for her, including the Broadway musical
Marie Christine, the opera
Send (who are you? i love you), and
The Seven Deadly Sins: A Song Cycle. With her full
lyric soprano voice, McDonald appeared as Lizzie in the
Roundabout Theatre Company's 2007 revival of
110 in the Shade, directed by
Lonny Price at
Studio 54, for which she shared the
Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Musical with
Donna Murphy. On April 29, 2007, while she was in previews for the show, her father was killed when an experimental aircraft he was flying crashed north of
Sacramento, California. McDonald is known for defying racial typecasting in her various Tony Award-winning and -nominated roles. Her performances as Carrie Pipperidge in
Nicholas Hytner's 1994 revival of
Carousel, Lizzie Curry in
Lonny Price's 2007 revival of
110 in the Shade, and
Rose in
George C. Wolfe's revival of
Gypsy have made her the first Black woman to portray those traditionally white roles in a major Broadway production. Of her groundbreaking work in encouraging diversity in musical theatre casting, she said in an interview for
The New York Times, "I refuse to be stereotyped. If I think I am right for a role I will go for it in whatever way I can. I refuse to say no to myself. I can't control what a producer will do or say but I can at least put myself out there." In a
Talk of the Nation interview on
NPR, Asian-American actor Thom Sesma said McDonald's performance in
Carousel "transcended any kind of type at all", proving her to be "more actress than African-American." McDonald has also performed in opera. In 2006 she made her opera debut at the
Houston Grand Opera performing
Francis Poulenc's
La voix humaine and the world premiere of
Michael John LaChiusa's one-woman opera
Send (who are you? I love you). She had previously performed in the world premiere of
John Adams'
I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky which was given in concert, and can be heard on the 1997 recording of the opera. In 2007 she performed the role of Jenny Smith in
Kurt Weill's
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the
Los Angeles Opera. Her performance was recorded and won the
Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 2009. In 2008, McDonald starred as Ruth Younger in the critically acclaimed television film
A Raisin in the Sun, and was nominated at the
60th Primetime Emmy Awards for
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, and at the
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie.
2011–2019: Career expansion McDonald appeared in a revised version of
George Gershwin's opera
Porgy and Bess, at the American Repertory Theatre (in
Cambridge, Massachusetts) from August through September 2011, and recreated the role on Broadway at the
Richard Rodgers Theatre, which opened on January 12, 2012, and closed on September 23, 2012. For this role, McDonald won her fifth Tony Award and her first in a Leading Actress category. This
American Repertory Theater production was "re-imagined by
Suzan-Lori Parks and
Diedre Murray as a musical for contemporary audiences." on Broadway in ''
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill'' (2014) Since 2012, McDonald has served as host for the
PBS series
Live from Lincoln Center, for which she won a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program with the show's producers for
Sweeney Todd, airing in 2015. In 2013, McDonald appeared in the
HBO documentary
Six by Sondheim, and she played Mother Abbess in the 2013 NBC live television production of
The Sound of Music Live!. In 2014, she was featured in
Lynn Nottage's short play
Poof!, alongside Tonya Pinkins. It was produced for radio and podcast by Playing On Air. McDonald played
Billie Holiday on Broadway in the play ''
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill'' in a limited engagement that ended on August 10, 2014. After previews that began on March 25, 2014, the play opened at the
Circle in the Square Theatre on April 13, 2014. In her acceptance speech, "she thanked her parents for encouraging her to pursue her interests as a child." She also thanked the "strong and brave and courageous" African-American women who came before her, saying in part, "I am standing on
Lena Horne's shoulders. I am standing on
Maya Angelou's shoulders. I am standing on
Diahann Carroll and
Ruby Dee, and most of all,
Billie Holiday. You deserved so much more than you were given when you were on this planet. This is for you, Billie." This performance was filmed at Cafe Brasil in New Orleans and broadcast on
HBO on March 12, 2016. McDonald received critical acclaim and was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her role in the broadcast. She lost to
Sarah Paulson playing
Marcia Clark in
The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. She was also nominated for the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series. She appeared at the Williamstown Theatre Festival,
Williamstown, Massachusetts, in
Eugene O'Neill's play
A Moon for the Misbegotten in August 2015, co-starring with her husband
Will Swenson. In 2016, McDonald starred on Broadway as the vaudeville performer Lottie Gee in a new musical titled
Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed about the making of the 1921 musical
Shuffle Along. Shuffle Along closed on July 24, 2016, and McDonald began a maternity hiatus at that time. McDonald had planned to make her
West End debut as Holiday in
Lady Day in June through September 2016, but after becoming pregnant she postponed these plans. She performed in
Lady Day in June 2017 through September 9, 2017, at the
Wyndham's Theatre in the West End. In 2017, McDonald starred in
Disney's live action remake film
Beauty and the Beast (based on
the 1991 animated film of the same name) as
Madame de Garderobe, directed by
Bill Condon, and co-starring with
Emma Watson and
Dan Stevens, earning a nomination at the
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. On August 1, 2017, it was announced that she had been added to the main cast for the second season of
The Good Fight, reprising her role as Liz Lawrence from
The Good Wife season 4. McDonald stayed in the cast for the remaining seasons, and was nominated twice for the
Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. In 2019 McDonald played Frankie in
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at the
Broadhurst Theatre,
2020–present in 2023|252x252px In 2021, McDonald portrayed Rachel Boutella in television series
The Bite and hosted the television ceremony of the
74th Tony Awards. In 2021, she appeared as
Barbara Siggers Franklin in
Aretha Franklin's
biographical musical drama film
Respect, earning a nomination at the
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. In 2022, she starred as Dorothy Scott in
HBO's television series
The Gilded Age. That year, she appeared in the Broadway production of
Ohio State Murders, earning her tenth Tony Award nomination. In 2023, McDonald portrayed
civil rights activist
Ella Baker in the
Netflix biographical drama
Rustin. That same year she acted in the comedy
Down Low and the
Ava DuVernay directed drama
Origin. In May 2024, it was announced that McDonald would return to Broadway as Mama Rose in a revival of
Gypsy, with previews beginning November 21. Her performance in Gypsy would earn her a record-breaking 11th Tony Award nomination, surpassing the previous three-way tie she had shared with
Julie Harris and
Chita Rivera. == Recordings and concerts ==