Renée Elise Goldsberry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Renée Elise Goldsberry
Goldsberry at Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards, 2016
Born	(1971-01-02) January 2, 1971 (age 54) San Jose, California, U.S.
Education	Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) University of Southern California (MM)
Occupation	Actress singer
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Alexis Johnson ​ (m. 2002)​
Children	2

Renée Elise Goldsberry, born on January 2, 1971, is a talented American actress and singer. She is famous for her amazing performances on both stage and screen. Renée has won several big awards, including a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Grammy Award. She was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.

She became very well-known for playing Angelica Schuyler in the original Broadway show of Hamilton. This musical was created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. For her role in Hamilton (from 2015 to 2016), she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Renée has also starred in other Broadway shows. She played Mimi Marquez in Rent and Nettie Harris in The Color Purple. On television, she was known for her role as Evangeline Williamson on One Life to Live. She also played Geneva Pine in the TV show The Good Wife and Wickie Roy in the musical comedy series Girls5eva. In 2022, she appeared as Mallory Book in the superhero series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+.

Early Life and Education

Renée Goldsberry was born in San Jose, California. She grew up in both Houston, Texas and Detroit, Michigan. Her mother, Betty Sanders, was a psychologist, and her father worked in the car industry. Renée has an older brother and two younger brothers.

She first discovered theater at a summer camp when she was 8 years old. Her younger brother was shy, so their mother enrolled both of them in a camp in Houston.

After finishing high school at Cranbrook Kingswood School in Michigan, Renée went to Carnegie Mellon University. She earned a degree in theater in 1993. Later, she went to graduate school at the University of Southern California. There, she earned a master's degree in jazz studies in 1997.

Career Highlights

Early Career and TV Roles

From 1997 to 2002, Renée Goldsberry had a recurring role on the TV show Ally McBeal. She played one of the backup singers. She also toured with the musical Dreamgirls in 1997. In 2002, she played Nala in the Broadway show The Lion King.

Renée is also a talented singer and songwriter. She helped write and perform more than half the songs for the 2001 movie All About You. She even won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 1997 for her rock music. She released an album called Everything But the Kitchen Sink in 2001.

From 2003 to 2007, Goldsberry played attorney Evangeline Williamson on the soap opera One Life to Live. For this role, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award twice. She also won a Soap Opera Digest Award with her co-stars.

In 2008, she took over the role of Mimi Márquez in the Broadway musical Rent. She was the last actress to play this role on Broadway. The final performance of Rent was filmed and released as a DVD and TV movie. From 2010 to 2016, Renée had a recurring role as Geneva Pine on the TV drama The Good Wife.

Hamilton and Beyond

Goldsberry (right) with co-star Javier Muñoz in costume for Hamilton

Renée Goldsberry created the role of Angelica Schuyler in the famous musical Hamilton. She performed in the show until September 3, 2016. In Hamilton, she acted alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., and Phillipa Soo. Critics praised her performance, especially her song "Satisfied". This song is about Angelica's secret love for Alexander Hamilton.

For her work in Hamilton, she won a Drama Desk Award and a Lucille Lortel Award in 2015. In 2016, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. As part of the main cast, she also received a Grammy Award when the original cast album won Best Musical Theater Album.

Goldsberry (center) performs with Hamilton castmates at the White House

In 2017, Renée played the main role in the HBO TV movie The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This movie was based on a true story. In 2018, she appeared in the Netflix science fiction series Altered Carbon as Quellcrist Falconer. She also had a supporting role in the fantasy comedy movie The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018). The next year, she was in the drama movie Waves (2019).

In 2020, the filmed version of Hamilton was released on Disney+. Renée was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in this recording. In 2021, she had a small role in the musical film Tick, Tick... Boom!, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Recent Projects

From 2021 to 2024, Renée Goldsberry starred in the Netflix musical comedy series Girls5eva. She played Wickie Roy, a member of a girl band from the early 2000s. The show follows the band as they try to become famous again. For her role, she was nominated for two Critics' Choice Television Awards.

In 2022, she played Mallory Book in the Disney+ superhero series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. She also voiced Roxy in the animated series Eureka. In 2023, she returned to the stage to play Prospero in a musical version of The Tempest. In 2024, a documentary about her life and career, called Satisfied, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Personal Life

Renée Goldsberry married New York attorney Alexis Johnson in 2002. Their first child, a son named Benjamin, was born in May 2009. In 2014, they adopted their second child, a daughter named Brielle, from Africa.

Acting Credits

Film Roles

Television Roles

Theater Roles

Discography

• Everything But the Kitchen Sink (2001)
• The Color Purple (2006, original Broadway cast recording)
• Hamilton (2015, original Broadway cast recording)
• Girls5eva (2021, soundtrack)

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Renée Elise Goldsberry para niños