Birth Place: Baltimore, MD, USA
Thoms was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Mariana and Donald Thoms. She has a brother, Austin. She started studying acting when she was ten and later on attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. She now holds a BFA from Howard University and a postgraduate diploma in acting from the Juilliard School (Group 30), where she was a classmate of actors Lee Pace and Anthony Mackie. She is currently playing the role of Joanne in the musical RENT on Broadway.
Thoms is known for her role of Mahandra McGinty in the television show Wonderfalls. She also played the part of Sasha in the series "As If", which was cancelled after three episodes. Most recently she has been added to the cast of the CBS crime drama Cold Case, as the narcotics detective, Kat Miller. Thoms has also made guest appearances on Law & Order and The Shield.
Thoms has appeared in several movies, most notably in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Rent in which she plays Joanne Jefferson, lawyer and lover of Maureen Johnson (Idina Menzel). She took over the role from Fredi Walker, who played Joanne in the original Rent Broadway show and who decided not to reprise her role due to her age. Prior to being cast as Joanne, she had been a big RENThead herself and had seen it in Broadway several times. She had also been auditioning for the theatre production for years but had never gotten the part. On July 18, 2008, she announced on her Myspace she will be joining the final cast of RENT starting July 26, 2008, playing the character Joanne, replacing Merle Dandridge.
She was featured in the 2002 Comedy Central film Porn 'n Chicken and the 2004 films Brother to Brother and The Warrior Class. Thoms appeared in the 2006 release of the film version of The Devil Wears Prada as Lily. Thoms has completed filming on the City Lights Pictures movie Descent along with Rent co-stars Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Rosario Dawson and will soon begin filming Jimmie with co-stars Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight. Recently, she appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, again, alongside Rosario Dawson.
Thoms made her Broadway debut in Regina Taylor's Drowning Crow. She has also appeared in several off-Broadway and regional productions, including Up Against the Wind (New York Theater Workshop), The Oedipus Plays (The Shakespeare Theater), A Raisin in the Sun (Baltimore CenterStage) Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Missouri Rep), The Exonerated (Off Broadway's The Culture Project) and The Antigone Project (The Women's Project).
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Celebration Theatre, one of the world's longest-running LGBTQ+ theatres, is hosting an awards gala Saturday, March 11th, 2-5pm, to celebrate its arts community's creative heroes during an entertaining afternoon of special appearances and social festivities that will become an annual tradition.
Apple TV+ has unveiled the trailer for the third season of its NAACP Image Award-winning anthology “Truth Be Told” starring Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer, who also executive produces, and award-winning actress Gabrielle Union, who joins the all-new season. The video trailer also stars Ron Cephas Jones, Merle Dandridge, and Tracie Thoms.
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Audible Inc. has announced a new slate of original comedy podcasts with longtime collaborators, Broadway Video Enterprises. In addition to new originals, Audible greenlit the second season of the hit Audible Original, Hot White Heist.
'Queen Sugar” will return to OWN this fall for its seventh and final season boasting a directorial line-up of returning all-star directors, including creator and executive producer Ava DuVernay. From ARRAY Filmworks and Warner Bros. Television, the series has started production on the final episode in and around New Orleans.
Center Theatre Group is announcing six new commissions as an extension of Not a Moment, But a Movement initiative created to amplify, center and celebrate Black voices.
BroadwayHD is delivering a variety of titles this June for viewers at home to stream. Additionally, they offer an extensive list of titles and documentaries worth viewing in honor of Pride month!
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Just last night, New York City Center Encores! wrapped up The Life, directed and adapted by Billy Porter. The production starred Jelani Alladin as Lou, Alexandra Grey as Queen, Antwayn Hopper as Memphis, Grammy nominee Mykal Kilgore as Young JoJo, Grammy Award winner Ledisi as Sonja, Erika Olson as Mary, Destan Owens as Old Jojo, and Ken Robinson as Fleetwood. Check out photos from inside closing night.
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Tracie Thoms has appeared on Broadway in 7 shows.
Tracie Thoms has not appeared in the West End.
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