# Tonya Pinkins

Tonya Pinkins is an American actress and filmmaker. Her award-winning debut feature film Red Pill was an official selection at the 2021 Pan African Film Festival, won the Best Black Lives Matter Feature and Best First Feature at The Mykonos International Film Festival, Best First Feature at the Luléa Film Festival, and is nominated for awards in numerous festivals around the globe. Her web-series The Red Pilling of America can be heard on her podcast "You Can't Say That!" at BPN.fm/ycst
She is known for her portrayal of Livia Frye on the soap opera All My Children and for her roles on Broadway. She has been nominated for three Tony Awards (winning one), and has won Obie, Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, AUDLECO, Garland, L.A. Drama Critics Circle, Clarence Derwent, and NAACP Theater Awards. She has been nominated for the Olivier, Helen Hayes, Noel, Joseph Jefferson, NAACP Image, Soap Opera Digest, and Ovation Awards. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Jelly's Last Jam.

## Early life and education

Pinkins attended Carnegie Mellon University, but was cast in Merrily We Roll Along and decided to pursue her career, instead.
Pinkins later returned to college, earning an undergraduate degree from Columbia College Chicago in 1996, followed by a year at California Western School of Law in San Diego.

## Career

Pinkins 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.
In 2014, she 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 also made 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 character 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 played Amala Motobo on 24. Pinkins played Ethel Peabody on the television show Gotham. In 2016, she played Mimi Corcoran on the Hulu science fiction limited series 11.22.63, based on the Stephen King book of the same name, and starring James Franco and Sarah Gadon. On March 16, 2017, she portrayed Sandra in the ABC television series Scandal.
Pinkins 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.
Pinkins wrote, directed, and starred as Cassandra in Red Pill, to be released in 2020.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1980 | Growing Up Young | Carol | Short |
| 1984 | Beat Street | Angela | |
| 1986 | Rage of Angels: The Story Continues | Sharon | TV movie |
| 1986 | Hotshot | - | |
| 1989 | See No Evil, Hear No Evil | Leslie | |
| 1993 | Strapped | A.T.F. Officer | TV movie |
| 1994 | Above the Rim | Mailika Watson | |
| 1994 | Against Their Will: Women in Prison | Sondra | TV movie |
| 2000 | Redemption | Dr. Jones | Short |
| 2002 | Love Hurts | Auntie V | |
| 2004 | Love, Mom | Mom | Short |
| 2005 | Romance & Cigarettes | Female Medic | |
| 2006 | Premium | Marva | |
| 2006 | True Grits | Woman #1 | Short |
| 2007 | Kuriocity | Ruby Riggs | |
| 2007 | Enchanted | Phoebe Banks | |
| 2008 | Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom | Mrs. Robinson | |
| 2013 | Newlyweeds | Patrice | |
| 2013 | Fading Gigolo | Othella | |
| 2013 | Home | Esmin | |
| 2015 | Ori Inu: In Search of Self | Mama Lola | Short |
| 2015 | For Justice | Marian Horn | TV movie |
| 2016 | Collective: Unconscious | Ripa | |
| 2016 | Fearless Love | Det. Cambridge | Short |
| 2017 | Aardvark | Abigail | |
| 2017 | The Book of Henry | Principal Wilder | |
| 2017 | My Days of Mercy | Agatha | |
| 2017 | An Act of Terror | Mary Church Terrell | Short |
| 2018 | Write When You Get Work | Roberta Simmons | |
| 2018 | Paris Blues in Harlem | Shirley | Short |
| 2018 | Mr. Talented | Valerie Brown | Short |
| 2019 | The Artist's Wife | Liza Caldwell | |
| 2020 | The Surrogate | Karen Weatherston-Harris | |
| 2020 | Black Lady Goddess | Professor Davis | TV movie |
| 2020 | Red Pill | Cassandra | |
| 2021 | Better Than My Last | Mrs. Carter | TV movie |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1981 | American Dream | - | Episode: "American Dream" |
| 1984–86 | As the World Turns | Heather Dalton | Regular Cast |
| 1987 | Crime Story | Junkie Prostitute | Episode: "Justice Hits the Skids" |
| 1990 | The Cosby Show | Iris | Episode: "Elvin Pays for Dinner" |
| 1990 | Guiding Light | Alanon Woman 2 | Episode: "Episode #1.11039" |
| 1990 | Law & Order | Woman | Episode: "Subterranean Homeboy Blues" |
| 1991–94 | All My Children | Livia Frye | Regular Cast |
| 1995 | University Hospital | Nurse Mary Jenkins | Main cast |
| 2000 | Great Performances | - | Episode: "Play On!" |
| 2002 | The Guardian | Melinda Tralins | Episode: "In Loco Parentis" |
| 2004–09 | All My Children | Livia Frye | Regular Cast |
| 2005 | Sleeper Cell | Anita Al-Sayeed | Episode: "Family" |
| 2006 | Criminal Minds | Det. Nora Bennett | Episode: "A Real Rain" |
| 2006 | Cold Case | Dina Miller | Episode: "The River" |
| 2006 | Law & Order | Angela Young | Episode: "Hindsight" |
| 2007 | Unfabulous | Ms. Best | Episode: "The Toot" |
| 2008 | The Closer | Donna Taft | Episode: "Split Ends" |
| 2009 | 24 | Alama Matobo | Recurring cast: season 7 |
| 2009 | Army Wives | Viola Crawford | Recurring cast: season 3 |
| 2013 | Hostages | Beth Nix | Episode: "2:45 PM" |
| 2015 | Nurse Jackie | Charlane | Episode: "Deal" & "Nice Ladies" |
| 2015–16 | Gotham | Ethel Peabody | Recurring cast: Season 2, guest: Season 3 |
| 2016 | 11.22.63 | Mia Mimi Corcoran | Recurring cast |
| 2016–19 | Madam Secretary | Susan Thompson | Recurring cast: season 3-6 |
| 2017 | Scandal | Sandra | Episode: "Extinction" & "A Traitor Among Us" |
| 2017 | The Strain | Francis | Episode: "Belly of the Beast" |
| 2018 | Random Acts of Flyness | Ripa The Reaper | Recurring cast |
| 2018 | Elementary | Judge Marilyn Whitfield | Episode: "Fit to Be Tied" |
| 2018 | Fear the Walking Dead | Martha | Recurring cast: Season 4 |
| 2018 | Adventures in New America | Sam | Episode: "Love in the First Degree" |
| 2019 | NCIS: New Orleans | Julie | Episode: "Reckoning" |
| 2019 | Bull | Judge Maynard | Episode: "When the Rains Came" |
| 2019 | Wu-Tang: An American Saga | Burgess | Episode: "Impossible" |
| 2019 | The Two Princes | Upendo | Recurring cast |
| 2020 | Katy Keene | Busker | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2020 | God Friended Me | Marsha | Recurring cast: season 2 |
| 2021 | Run the World | Gwen Greene | Episode: "Plus Ones" |
| 2021 | Women of the Movement | Alma Carthan | Main cast |
| 2024-present | Sistas | Marie Willis | Main Cast |

## Stage

| Year | Title | Role(s) | Venue(s) | Notes |
| 1981 | Merrily We Roll Along | Gwen Wilson | Alvin Theater, Broadway | Broadway debut |
| 1988 | Just Say No | Eustacia Vye | WPA Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 1991 | Approximating Mother | Ellie, Sylvia and Grace | Judith Anderson Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 1992 | Jelly's Last Jam | Anita | Virginia Theater, Broadway | Tony Award Drama Desk Award |
| 1994 | The Merry Wives of Windsor | Mistress Ford | Delacorte Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 1995 | Chronicle of a Death Foretold | Clotilde | Plymouth Theater, Broadway | |
| 1997 | Play On! | Lady Liv | Brooks Atkinson Theater, Broadway | Tony Award nomination |
| 1998 | Play On! | Lady Liv | Goodman Theatre, Chicago Seattle Repertory Theatre | |
| 2000 | The Wild Party | Kate | Virginia Theater, Broadway | |
| 2000 | The Vagina Monologues | performer | Westside Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 2000 | Thoroughly Modern Millie | Muzzy | La Jolla Playhouse | world premiere |
| 2003 | House of Flowers | Madame Fleur | New York City Center | |
| 2003 | Caroline or Change | Caroline Thibodeaux | The Public Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 2004 | Caroline or Change | Caroline Thibodeaux | Eugene O'Neill Theatre, Broadway | Tony Award nomination Drama Desk Award nomination |
| 2006 | Caroline or Change | Caroline Thibodeaux | Royal National Theatre, London | Olivier Award nomination |
| 2007 | Radio Golf | Mame Wilkins | McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton Cort Theater, Broadway | |
| 2008 | And Her Hair Went With Her | Jasmine | The Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles | |
| 2009 | Black Pearl Sings! | Alberta 'Pearl' Johnson | Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C. | |
| 2011 | All's Well That Ends Well | Countess of Rousillon | Delacorte Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 2011 | Measure for Measure | Mistress Overdone | Delacorte Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 2011 | Milk Like Sugar | Myrna | La Jolla Playhouse Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway | |
| 2012 | Hurt Village | Big Mama | Signature Theatre Company, Off-Broadway | |
| 2012 | Storefront Church | Jessie Cortez | Atlantic Theater Company, Off-Broadway | |
| 2013 | A Time to Kill | Gwen Lee | John Golden Theatre, Broadway | |
| 2014 | Holler If Ya Hear Me | Mrs. Weston | Palace Theater, Broadway | |
| 2014 | The Fabulous Miss Marie | Miss Marie | Castillo Theater, Off-Broadway | |
| 2014 | War | Roberta | Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven | |
| 2015 | Rasheeda Speaking | Jaclyn | Signature Theatre Company, Off-Broadway | Drama Desk Award nomination |
| 2015 | Mother Courage and Her Children | Mother Courage | Classic Stage Company, Off-Broadway | |
| 2017 | Time Alone | Anna Jackson | Los Angeles Theatre Center | |
| 2022 | A Raisin in the Sun | Lena | The Public Theater, Off-Broadway | |