Tonya Pinkins facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tonya Pinkins
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| Education | Carnegie Mellon University Columbia College Chicago (BA) California Western School of Law |
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| Years active | 1980–present |
Tonya Pinkins is an American actress and filmmaker. She has won many awards for her acting on stage and screen. She is also known for playing Livia Frye on the TV show All My Children.
Tonya Pinkins has won a Tony Award, which is a very important award for theater. She also won an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award, and many others. Her first movie as a filmmaker, Red Pill, won awards at film festivals around the world. She also has a web series called The Red Pilling of America, which you can hear as a podcast.
Early Life and Education
Tonya Pinkins was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was a police officer and insurance salesman, and her mother worked for the postal service. She has two brothers, Eric and Thomas, and a sister, Tamera.
From a young age, Tonya loved the arts. She studied acting at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and at the Goodman Theatre's program for young people. She started studying musical theater at Carnegie Mellon University. However, she got a role in the musical Merrily We Roll Along and decided to start her acting career.
Later, Tonya went back to college. She earned a degree in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago in 1996. After that, she studied law for a year at California Western School of Law.
Acting Career
Tonya Pinkins won a Tony Award for her role as Sweet Anita in the musical Jelly's Last Jam. She was also nominated for Tony Awards for her roles in Play On! and Caroline, or Change. In Caroline, or Change, she played the main character.
She has been in many other Broadway shows. These include Merrily We Roll Along, The Wild Party, and Radio Golf. She has also performed in many plays that are not on Broadway, called off-Broadway productions.
Television Roles
In the mid-1980s, Tonya Pinkins played Heather Dalton on the TV show As the World Turns. In 1991, she joined the cast of All My Children as Livia Frye. She left the show in 1995 but came back in 2003.
Tonya has also appeared in many other popular TV shows. She played Amala Motobo on 24 and Ethel Peabody on Gotham. In 2016, she was in the science fiction series 11.22.63, which was based on a book by Stephen King. She also appeared in shows like Law & Order, Criminal Minds, and Scandal.
Film Roles
Tonya Pinkins has acted in several movies. Some of her film roles include Newlyweeds, Home, and Enchanted. She also appeared in Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom and Above the Rim.
In 2020, Tonya wrote, directed, and starred in her own film called Red Pill. She played the character Cassandra in the movie.
Images for kids
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Tonya Pinkins
