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Tonya Pinkins‌

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1962-05-30

Popularity

star3.3

Tonya Pinkins

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Tonya Pinkins

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1962-05-30

Popularity

star3.3

Biography

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 People's 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 Mellon's 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 Jelly's 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 Winter's Tale produced by the Riverside Shakespeare Company at The Shakespeare Center in 1983. In 2011, Pinkins starred in the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidge’s 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 Hall's play Hurt Village, the gritty drama about life and change in a Memphis housing project made its world-premiere at Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company as part of the theatre's 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 Theatre's 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 Jacobs-Jenkins' 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 mid-1980s 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, Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom and Above the Rim among others.

Movie Credits

Romance & Cigarettes

Romance & Cigarettes‌
star6.0
calendar 2005

An Act of Terror

An Act of Terror‌
star0.0
calendar 2017

Home

Home‌
star6.6
calendar 2013

Newlyweeds

Newlyweeds‌
star4.9
calendar 2013

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

See No Evil, Hear No Evil‌
star6.7
calendar 1989

Against Their Will: Women in Prison

Against Their Will: Women in Prison‌
star8.0
calendar 1994

The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide

The Evolution of Horror Cinema Worldwide‌
star0.0
calendar 2025

American Dream

American Dream‌
star0.0
calendar 1981

Aardvark

Aardvark‌
star5.0
calendar 2018

The Book of Henry

The Book of Henry‌
star7.5
calendar 2017

The Life of Peter Gottlieb

The Life of Peter Gottlieb‌
star0.0
calendar 2024

Mr. Talented

Mr. Talented‌
star0.0
calendar 2018

Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway

Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway‌
star8.0
calendar 1992

Above the Rim

Above the Rim‌
star6.9
calendar 1994

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...‌
star7.5
calendar 2016

The Surrogate

The Surrogate‌
star4.9
calendar 2021

My Days of Mercy

My Days of Mercy‌
star7.4
calendar 2018

Collective: Unconscious

Collective: Unconscious‌
star6.2
calendar 2016

Enchanted

Enchanted‌
star6.8
calendar 2007

The Artist's Wife

The Artist's Wife‌
star5.6
calendar 2020

Rasheeda Speaking

Rasheeda Speaking‌
star0.0
calendar 2015

The School for Wives

The School for Wives‌
star2.0
calendar 2020

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom‌
star6.2
calendar 2008

Everybody Dies!

Everybody Dies!‌
star5.0
calendar 2016

Red Pill

Red Pill‌
star6.0
calendar 2021

Tv Credits

Law & Order

Law & Order‌
star7.4
calendar 1990

The Closer

The Closer‌
star7.9
calendar 2005

The Guardian

The Guardian‌
star6.8
calendar 2001

The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show‌
star7.0
calendar 1984

Cold Case

Cold Case‌
star7.8
calendar 2003

24

24‌
star7.8
calendar 2001

Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds‌
star8.3
calendar 2005

Army Wives

Army Wives‌
star7.5
calendar 2007

Women of the Movement

Women of the Movement‌
star7.5
calendar 2022

University Hospital

University Hospital‌
star0.0
calendar 1995

Black in the 80s

Black in the 80s‌
star0.0
calendar 2005

All My Children

All My Children‌
star6.3
calendar 1970

Run the World

Run the World‌
star7.0
calendar 2021

11.22.63

11.22.63‌
star7.8
calendar 2016

Hostages

Hostages‌
star5.9
calendar 2013

Gotham

Gotham‌
star7.6
calendar 2014

Random Acts of Flyness

Random Acts of Flyness‌
star4.6
calendar 2018

Wu-Tang: An American Saga

Wu-Tang: An American Saga‌
star8.2
calendar 2019

The Hunt for the Chicago Strangler

The Hunt for the Chicago Strangler‌
star3.0
calendar 2021

Scandal

Scandal‌
star7.2
calendar 2012

Crime Story

Crime Story‌
star7.9
calendar 1986

East New York

East New York‌
star7.4
calendar 2022

Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead‌
star7.7
calendar 2015

Bull

Bull‌
star7.0
calendar 2016

Law & Order

Law & Order‌
star7.4
calendar 1990

God Friended Me

God Friended Me‌
star7.9
calendar 2018

Elementary

Elementary‌
star7.6
calendar 2012

The Strain

The Strain‌
star7.5
calendar 2014

Army Wives

Army Wives‌
star7.5
calendar 2007

Great Performances

Great Performances‌
star4.9
calendar 1971