Tonya Pinkins

Tonya Pinkins was born in Chicago Illinois She has four children Her father was a police officer and insurance salesman and her mother is a former postal worker She has two brothers Eric Swoope and Thomas Swoope and a sister Tamera Swoope from whom she is estranged She was interested in the arts from a young age In high school she studied acting at the Goodman Theatre Young Peoples Program Aged 18 she briefly attended college and decided to pursue an acting career instead She later returned to college earning an undergraduate degree from Columbia College in Chicago followed by graduate work at Carnegie Mellons music theater program and a year at California Western School of Law in San Diego Pinkins is probably most admired for her stage work She won a Tony Award for her performance as Sweet Anita in Jellys Last Jam She was nominated for her roles in Play On and in Caroline or Change where she played the title role Her additional Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along Chronicle of a Death Foretold The Wild Party House of Flowers Radio Golf A Time To Kill and Holler If Ya Hear Me Pinkins has performed in several Off Broadway productions including the comic role of Mopsa the Shepherdess in The Winters Tale produced by the Riverside Shakespeare Company at The Shakespeare Center in 1983 In 2011 Pinkins starred in the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidges Milk Like Sugar at La Jolla Playhouse and received a 2012 Craig Noel nomination for Best featured Actress in a Play She reprised her role in the Playwrights Horizons in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater and garnered a 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play In 2012 Pinkins starred in Katori Halls play Hurt Village the gritty drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project made its worldpremiere at OffBroadways Signature Theatre Company as part of the theatres inaugural season The play also Marsha Stephanie Blake Ron Cephas Jones Saycon Sengbloh Lloyd Watts Charlie Hudson III Nicholas Christopher Corey Hawkins Ron Cephas Jones and Joaquina Kalukango In 2014 Pinkins appeared in New Federal Theatres revival of Ed Bullins The Fabulous Miss Marie opposite Roscoe Orman in the Broadway production of Holler If Ya Hear Me and the world premiere of Branden JacobsJenkins War at Yale Repertory She has also had a prolific television career making guest appearances on such television shows as Army Wives 24 Law Order The Cosby Show Cold Case Criminal Minds and The Guardian among others During the mid1980s Pinkins created the role of Heather Dalton on the CBS soap As the World Turns In 1991 she was cast as Livia Frye in All My Children Pinkins left All My Children in 1995 but returned to her role in 2003 She was later put on contract with the show from March 2004 until June 2006 when she was downgraded to recurring status She has played Amala Motobo on the popular television show 24 She has appeared in several films in supporting roles including Newlyweeds Home Fading Gigolo opposite Woody Allen Enchanted Premium Romance Cigarettes Noahs Arc Jumping The Broom and Above the Rim among others